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MORDLCAI  M.  NOAH 


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HIS  LIFE  AND  WORK 

.  FPOM    THL  JEWISH    VIE  \>P01NT 


BY 


A.  B.  MAKOVE.R 


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NEW  YORK 

BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1917 


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MORDECAI    M.    \0ATT 


MORDLCAI  M.  NOAH 


HIS   LIFE  AND  WORK 

FROM   THE   JLWI5H    VILWPOINT 


BY 

A.  B.  MAKOVLR 


NEW  YORK 

BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1917 


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Copyright,  1917 

BY 

A.  B.  Makover 


a: 


MORDLCAI  M.  NOAH 

HI5  LIFE  AND  WORK 

FROM  THL  JLWI5H  VIEWPOINT 


**We  will  return  to  Zion  as  we  went  forth,"  said 
Mordecai  Noah  in  1824,  three  quarters  of  a 
century  before  the  first  Zionist  Congress  at  Basle, 
"bringing  back  the  faith  we  carried  away  with  us. 
The  temple  under  Solomon  which  we  built  as 
Jews  we  must  again  erect  as  the  chosen  people. 
For  two  thousand  years  we  have  been  pursued 
and  persecuted,  and  we  are  yet  here;  assemblages 
of  men  have  formed  communities,  built  cities, 
established  governments,  and  yet  tae  are  here. 
Rome  conquered  Greece  and  she  was  no  longer 
Greece.  Rome  in  turn  became  conquered,  and 
there  are  but  few  traces  now  of  the  once  mistress 
of  the  world ;  yet  we  are  here,  like  the  fabled 
'  Phoenix,  ever  springing  from  its  ashes,  or,  more 
beautifully  typical,  like  the  bush  of  Moses,  which 
ever  burns,  yet  never  consumes." 

There    are    few    more    appealing   figures    in    the  ' 
history    of    Zionism    than    he    who    uttered    these 
words.      He    was    the    first    American    Zionist,    a 
Zionist    before    the    movement    had    received    a 


4  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

name,*  a  lawyer,  diplomat,  philanthropist,  a  leader 
in  Israel  and  a  loyal  and  true  American.  Born  at 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Mordecai 
Noah  lived  through  the  period  of  American  ex- 
pansion and  died  at  the  time  when  the  preliminary 
quarrels  over  the  question  of  slavery  were  going 
on.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  on  this  latter 
point  his  sympathies  were  decidedly  with  the 
South.  The  span  of  his  life  covered  a  critical 
period  of  sixty-six  years  in  the  development  of  the 
new  republic  and  Noah  was  one  who  contributed 
bountifully  of  his  energy  and  of  his  talents  to  the 
welfare  of  the  United   States. 

Mordecai  Manuel  Noah  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  then  the  capital  of  the  United  States, 
on  July  19th,  1785,  several  years  after  the  war  of 
Independence.  He  died  in  New  York  City,  March 
22,  1851.  The  Noah  family  was  of  Portuguese 
Jewish  stock,  and  many  of  the  descendants  were 
in  the  fore  in  important  matters  of  business  and 
state.  It  has  been  asserted  that  his  mother  was 
descended  from  a  disinguished  family  of  Maran- 
nos,  which  left  Lisbon  for  London  in  order  to 
escape  the  Inquisition,  and  later  emigrated  to 
America.**  "He  was  the  eldest  son,"  Simon  Wolf 
tells   us,   "of   Manuel   Mordecai   Noah,   of   Charles- 


*The  term  Zionism  in  contradistinction  to  "Chovevei 
Zion" — "Lovers  of  Zion" — was  first  used  by  Matthias 
Acher  (Birnbaum)  in  his  paper,  "Selbst-Emancipation," 
read   in   1886. 

**Dr.  M.  Kayserling:  "£m  Judenstaat-Griinder*',  Allge- 
meine   Zeitung   des   Judentums,    1898,   p.    101. 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  5 

ton,  South  Carolina,  a  patriot  of  the  revolution, 
and  Zipporah  Phillips  Noah,  the  daughter  of 
Robert  Phillips  of  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  patriots  of  the  Revolutionary  period." 
His  father  served  in  General  Washington's  army, 
and  a  tradition  in  the  Noah  family  persists,  to  the 
effect  that  our  first  President  was  a  guest  at  the 
wedding  of  Mordecai's   parents. 

Noah  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  and 
was  apprenticed  to  a  carver  and  guilder  to  learn 
his  handicraft.  He  managed,  however,  to  attend 
school  for  a  few  hours  each  day,  and,  being  of  a 
studious  disposition,  succeeded  in  educating  him- 
self in  all  manner  of  learning.  Among  his  class- 
mates were  Stephen  Decatur  and  his  brother  John, 
of  whom  the  former  subsequently  attained  emi- 
nent distinction  for  his  services  to  his  country  in 
the  American  Navy.  Years  after  Noah  and 
Decatur  were  boys  at  school,  at  the  time  when 
the  United  States  were  conducting  a  war  against 
the  North  African  pirates,  the  two  men  met,  Noah 
as  the  American  Consul  at  Tunis,  Algiers,  and 
Stephen  Decatur  as  Commodore  of  the  fleet  in 
those  waters.  While  the  squadron  lay  off  Cape 
Carthage,  the  Consul  of  the  United  States  was 
received  by  the  heroic  commander  with  the  usual 
honors  accorded  by  American  representatives  to 
each  other  when  they  meet  in  strange  lands. 

When  a  boy,  Noah  was  a  member  of  a  Thespian 
company;  he  performed  the  duties  of  cutting  the| 
plays,    substituting    new    passages,    casting    partSy/^ 
and    writing    couplets    at    the    exits.      The    little^ 


6  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

company  did  not  last  long,  for  their  audiences 
were  admitted  without  cost  and  the  expenses  be- 
came too  heavy  for  the  youthful  actors  to  survive. 
The  Thespian  Society  included,  besides  young 
Noah,  the  celebrated  actor,  Edwin  Forrest,  who 
was  eleven  years  old  at  the  time,  and  Joseph  C. 
Neale.  From  boyhood  on,  Noah  was  a  constant 
attendant  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre.  He 
seldom  missed  a  night,  and,  after  his  varied  ex- 
periences, he  wrote  a  melodrama,  under  the  title 
of  The  Fortress  of  Sorrento ;  as,  however,  he  did 
not  possess  enough  money  to  pay  for  printing,  or 
sufficient  influence  to  have  it  acted,  he  thrust  the 
manuscript  into  his  pocket,  went  to  New  York 
where  he  called  at  David  Longworth's  Dramatic 
Repository  one  day  and  struck  a  bargain  with  the 
owner  by  giving  him  the  play  in  return  for  a  copy 
of  each  play  that  Longworth  had  published. 

During  his  years  as  guilder's  apprentice,  Noah 
was  in  the  habit  of  spending  most  of  his  evenings 
at  the  Franklin  Library  in  Philadelphia,  where  his 
obvious  assiduity  and  attractive  manly  appearance 
and  demeanor  drew  the  attention  of  Robert 
Morris,  the  financier,  who  personally  obtained  for 
him  a  clerkship  in  the  Auditor's  Office  at  the 
United  States  Treasury.  Noah  held  this  position 
until  the  national  capital  was  moved  to  Wash- 
ington, in  1800,  and  the  boy,  then  only  15  years 
of  age,  went  to  Harrisburg  to  represent  a  news- 
paper at  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature.  Here  he 
gained  his  first  experience  in  the  field  of  journal- 
ism,  in    which    he    later   became    a   potent   leader. 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  7 

Four  or  five  years  after  Noah  had  settled  himself 
in  Harrisburg,  he  went  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  where 
he  studied  law,  at  the  same  time  editing  the 
"Charleston  City  Gazette".  The  relations  be- 
tween this  country  and  England  were,  at  that 
time,  very  much  strained,  and,  finally,  were  com- 
pletely broken  off  in  the  war  of  1812.  Noah  ad- 
vocated war  in  the  columns  of  his  paper,  writing 
many  fiery  articles  over  the  pen-name  of  *'Muley 
Molack,"  and  in  so  doing  incurred  the  enmity  of 
the  pacifists.  He  was  challenged  to  several  duels 
and    in    one    encounter    he    killed    his    antagonist. 

From  Noah's  contributions  to  various  period- 
icals, and  the  character  and  variety  of  his  writ- 
ings, it  is  evident  that  he  was  one  of  the  shining 
literary  lights  of  the  period.  He  was  a  friend  of 
George  P.  Morris  and  other  unremembered  liter- 
ati of  this  country.  His  editorials  and  short 
articles  were  so  stimulating  and  enjoyable  that 
they  became  very  popular.  Major  Noah  (he  was 
an  officer  of  the  New  York  militia,  attaining  the 
rank  of  major),  was  recognized  as  the  best  ''para- 
grapher"  of  his  day. 

Noah's  literary  activity  won  for  him  an  im- 
portant place  in  American  letters.  Many  of  his 
writings  were  of  a  political  nature,  yet  he  still 
found  time  to  write  a  half  dozen  or  more  plays. 
He  wrote  the  following:  "The  Fortress  of 
Sorrento",  "The  Grecian  Captive",  "The  Grand 
Canal",  "Marion,  or  The  Hero  of  Lake  George", 
"O  Yes,  or  The  New  Constitution",  "She  Would 
be  a  Soldier",  "The  Siege  of  Tripoli",  "Paul  and 


8  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

Alexis",  "Yesef  Caramatti",  "all  of  which  were 
produced  with  great  success,"  says  Dunlap.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  most  of  his  plays 
were  written  while  he  was  editing  a  daily  paper 
and    midst   the    fierce    contests    of   political    strife. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wm.  Dunlap,  author  of  "A 
History  of  the  American  Theatre",  Noah  throws 
light  on  his  activities  as  a  playwright : 

"As  the  struggle  for  liberty  in  Greece  was  the 
prevailing  excitement,  I  finished  the  melodrama 
of  "The  Grecian  Captive",  which  was  brought  out 
with  all  the  advantages  of  good  scenery  and 
music.  As  "a  good  house"  was  of  more  conse- 
quence to  the  actor  than  fame  to  the  author,  it 
was  resolved  that  the  hero  of  the  piece  should 
make  his  appearance  on  an  elephant,  and  the 
heroine  on  a  camel,  which  were  procured  from  a 
neighboring  menagerie,  and  the  "toute  ensemble" 
was  sufficiently  imposing,  only  it  happened  that 
the  huge  elephant,  in  shaking  his  skin,  so  rocked 
the  castle  on  his  back,  that  the  Grecian  general 
nearly  lost  his  balance,  and  was  in  imminent 
danger  of  coming  down  from  his  "high  estate,"  to 
the  infinite  merriment  of  the  audience.  On  this 
occasion,  to  use  another  significant  phrase,  a 
"gag"  was  hit  upon  of  a  new  character  altogether. 
The  play  was  printed  and  each  auditor  was  pre- 
sented with  a  copy  gratis  as  he  entered  the  house. 
Figure  for  yourself  a  thousand  people  in  a  theatre, 
each  with  a  book  of  the  play  in  hand — imagine 
the  turning  over  of  a  thousand  leaves  simul- 
taneously,   the    buzz    and    fluttering    it    produced, 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  9 

and  you  will  readily  believe  that  the  actors  en- 
tirely forgot  their  parts,  and  even  the  equanimity 
of  the  elephant  and  camel  were  essentially  dis- 
turbed. 

"My  last  appearance  as  a  dramatic  author  was 
in  another  national  piece,  "The  Siege  of  Tripoli", 
which   the   managers   persuaded   me   to   bring  out 
for    my    own    benefit,    being    my    first    attempt    to 
derive  a  profit  from  dramatic   efforts.     The   piece 
was    elegantly    got    up — the    house    crowded    with 
beauty   and   fashion — everything   went   ofif   in   the 
happiest    manner;    when,    a    short   time    after   the 
audience  had   retired,   the   Park   Theatre   was   dis- 
covered to  be  on  fire,  and  in  a  short  time  was  a 
heap   of   ruins.     This   conflagration   burnt   out   all 
my  dramatic  fire  and  energy,  since  which  I  have 
been,  as  you  well  know,  peacably  employed."     It 
is  said  that  Noah   gave   his   entire  portion  of  the 
proceeds   of  this   performance   to   the   actors,   who 
had  lost  all  their  personal  belongings  in  the  fire. 
As  a  writer  of  essays,  Noah  was  gifted  with  a 
lively  style   which   abounded   in   a  common   sense, 
calculated    to    appeal    to   that   vast   misunderstood 
class,  too  frequently  described  as  "average  readers." 
His  writings  are,  moreover,  tempered  with  a  dig- 
nified kindliness  and  thoughtfulness,  indicative  of 
an    amiable    disposition    and    good    breeding.      He 
is   so   convincingly   friendly   and    considerate   that 
one's  confidence  is  instantly  gained.     In  a  collec- 
tion  of  his   newspaper   essays,   published   in    1845, 
which  Noah  entitled  "Gleanings  from  a  Gathered 
Harvest",   these   characteristics   are   markedly   dis- 


10  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

played.  The  essays  deal  with  large  and  petty  vices 
of  that  period  (common,  indeed,  in  all  latter-day 
periods  of  human  history),  and  might  well  be  called 
"Lessons  in  Prudence,  Economy  and  Industry". 
The  writer  includes  one  of  these  in  the  appendix 
of  this  account  for  the  delight  of  the  reader.* 

In  1811,  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah  received  the 
appointment  of  American  Consul  for  Riga,  Russia, 
but  at  that  period  this  post  held  forth  no  induce- 
ments because  of  the  commercial  obstacles  created 
through  the  war  on  the  continent,  which  was  then 
being  waged  with  great  vigor.  It  was  the  year 
in  which  Alexander  I.  had  broken  his  alliance 
with  Napoleon,  who  from  that  time  was  a  con- 
stant and  powerful  foe.  Russia  was  almost  in- 
cessantly at  war,  the  national  debt  and  the  burden 
of  taxation  had  been  augmented,  and  though 
Alexander  was  unmistakably  liberal,  a  consulship 
in  a  chaotic  country  did  not  appeal  to  Noah. 
President  Madison,  after  two  years  of  delibera- 
tion, during  which  time  he  had  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity for  forming  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
character,  claims  and  qualifications  of  Major 
Noah,  appointed  him,  in  1813,  Consul  for  the 
Kingdom  and  City  of  Tunis,  which  was  a  salaried 
office  and  a  trust  of  importance.  War  had  been 
declared  against  the  United  States  by  the  Alge- 
.  fines.  Mr.  Lear,  the  American  Consul-General, 
was  rudely  dismissed,  and  a  vessel  from  Salem, 
Mass.,  was  captured  and  her  crew  made  prisoners. 


*See  Appendix  A. 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  11 

Noah  was  instructed  to  negotiate  for  the  re- 
lease of  these  captives  and  it  was  determined  that 
he  should  have  entire  charge  of  affairs  in  the 
Mediterranean.      The    appointment    was    accepted. 

Thus  began  his  services  for  the  Government. 
His  task  was  a  difficult  one,  requiring  the  exer- 
cise of  shrewd  diplomacy  and  subjecting  his  per- 
son to  the  risks  of  Oriental  hospitality.  The  re- 
lations of  the  United  States  with  the  Barbary 
States  were  peculiarly  uncertain,  and  the  policies 
of  those  regencies  were  but  imperfectly  under- 
stood in  this  country.  Foreigners  needed  strong 
protection,  for  they  were  not  very  welcome  to 
Mussulmans. 

Noah  had  another  motive  for  directing  his  steps 
towards  that  quarter  of  the  globe.  He  desired  to 
obtain  authentic  information  relative  to  the  situa- 
tion, character,  resources,  and  numerical  force  of 
the  Jews  in  Barbary,  many  of  whom  were  immi- 
grants from  Judaea  and  Egypt.  The  only  Jewish 
traveler  in  those  countries,  whose  works  were  ex- 
tant, was  the  Spaniard,  Benjamin  of  Tudela  in 
Spain,  who  traveled  in  the  13th  century.  Noah 
visited  England,  Erance,  Spain,  and  the  Barbary, 
faithfully  recording  his  observations  as  he  pro- 
ceeded. At  length,  after  many  delays,  incon- 
veniences and  perils,  the  Major  arrived  in  Tunis. 
He  found  the  city  filthy  in  the  extreme  and  by  no 
means  a  comfortable  residence.  There  were  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  one 
fifth  of  whom  were  Jews.  A  clique  of  Jewish 
citizens,  he  found,  controlled  the  commerce  of  the 


12  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

country  and  were  very  intimate  with  the  rulers, 
with  whom  they  were  constantly  allied  for  the 
carrying  out  of  lucrative  deals  and  shady  intri- 
gues. These  matters,  together  with  the  mode  of 
life  of  the  Jews  in  the  various  countries  he  had 
visited,  Noah  recounts  with  historical  accuracy 
in  his  "Travels  in  England,  France,  Spain,  and  the 
Barbary  States",  published  in  New  York  and 
London  in  1819.  From  this  work,  I  take  the 
liberty  of  quoting  the  following  rather  lengthy 
account  of  the  Jews  in  Barbary : 

'Tn  glancing  at  the  various  inhabitants,  which 
chance,  or  the  persecutions  of  an  unfeeling  world, 
have  driven  to  this  quarter  of  the  globe,  I  should 
not  omit  noticing  the  Jews.  Indeed,  on  this  sub- 
ject, more  will  be  expected  from  me  than  from 
casual  observers.  Professing  the  same  religion, 
and  representing  a  Christian  nation  in  an  im- 
portant station,  and  in  an  interesting  part  of  the 
world,  it  will  be  supposed  that  opportunity  and 
inclination  must  have  combined  to  afford  the  most 
correct  information  on  the  subject ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  an  equality  of  rights,  a  reasonable 
participation  of  honors  and  office,  together  with 
the  advantages  of  society  and  education,  unite  to 
banish  those  prejudices,  inseparable  from  dark 
minds,  and  feelings  wounded  and  irritated.  If 
on  this  subject  I  should  not  say  much,  what  I 
shall  say  will  be  the  result  of  close  observation. 
On  the  numerical  force,  wealth,  and  disposition 
for  emancipation  among  these  descendants  of  the 
Patriarchs,  I  have  a  small  volume,  the  publication 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  13 

of  which  may  be  dangerous  to  them,  while  the 
north  of  Africa  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Barbarians, 
and  I  am  not  without  hopes  that  the  time  will 
come,  when  some  civilized  power,  capable  and 
determined,  will  wrest  that  fine  portion  of  the 
world  from  the  hands  of  the  assassins,  and  re- 
lieve an  unfortunate  race,  who  only  require  mild- 
ness and  tolerance  to  make  it  useful  and  bene- 
ficial. 

"The  Israelites  banished  from  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal by  the  bigotry  of  their  monarchs,  and  for 
which  these  kingdoms  have  long  since  languished 
and  decayed,  sought  refuge  in  the  Barbary  States, 
in  which  there  were  originally  but  200,000.  They 
found  in  Fez,  Algiers,  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  an  im- 
mense number  of  their  brethren,  originally  from 
Judaea  and  Egypt,  many  of  whom  had  descended 
from  the  Canaanites  that  fled  from  Joshua  and 
settled  in  Mauretania  Tingitania.  Such  was  the  fate 
and  the  fortune  of  these  proscribed  and  unhappy 
people.  They  wandered  with  no  other  king  but 
their  God,  no  other  law  than  his  precepts  and 
ordinances ;  they  bent  under  persecutions,  yet, 
wherever  the  intolerance  of  the  times  compelled 
them  to  go,  they  found  their  brethren,  with  ad- 
mirable constancy,  ready  to  share  with  them  their 
fortunes,  and,  if  necessary,  to  sacrifice  their  lives 
for  each  other.  In  the  Barbary  States,  they  found 
a  refuge  from  the  Inquisition,  from  torture  and 
from  the  "auto  da  fe",  they  were  compelled  to 
abandon  their  splendid  dwellings  and  the  luxury 
of  wealth,  they  met  from  Mussulmans  insult  and 


14  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

oppression,  yet  they  were  tolerated,  and  they 
sought  consolation  in  that  religion  which  teaches 
them  to  have  but  one  God,  to  obey  his  command- 
ments and  rely  on  his  protection.  They  were 
taught,  by  the  doctrines  of  their  law,  to  suffer 
patiently  the  penance  of  a  loss  of  national  liberty; 
for  a  disregard  in  early  periods  to  the  principles 
of  that  law,  they  were  dispersed  according  to  the 
word  of  God,  and  in  conformity  to  his  promise, 
they  patiently  bend  to  the  intolerance  of  the 
times,  and  await  the  certain  period  of  their  de- 
liverance, satisfied,  from  the  well-known  and  ad- 
mitted fact,  that  they  have  been  preserved  pure 
and  unalloyed,  amidst  the  wreck  of  worlds  and 
the  ruins  of  nature,  and  that  this  miraculous  pre- 
servation must  eventuate  in  their  restoration  to 
their  ancient  rights. . .  From  the  most  correct  data 
which  I  could  obtain,  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  number  of  Jews  in  the  Barbary  States 
exceeds  700,000,  of  which  nearly  100,000  are 
capable  of  bearing  arms.  Much  has  been  said  of 
the  severe  and  cruel  treatment  of  the  Jews  by  the 
Mussulmans — this  I  did  not  observe;  that  they  are 
treated  with  indignity  and  insult  there  is  no  doubt; 
they  are  compelled  to  wear  a  black  dress,  they  are 
not  permitted  to  pass  a  Mosque  with  their  shoes 
on,  they  pay  a  heavy  capitation  tax,  and  minor 
insults  growing  out  of  a  general  system  and  cus- 
toms long  observed.  These  were  predicated  on 
policy :  the  Moors  found  an  immense  and  increas- 
ing people  professing  a  different  faith — active, 
enterprising,    and    rich — fearful,    then,    of    an    in- 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  15 

crease  of  a  confederacy,  composed  of  materials 
capable  of  revolutionizing  and  governing  the 
country,  they  united  to  oppress  and  insult  them, 
and  yet  tolerated  them.  An  erroneous  impression 
prevails,  that  the  religion  of  the  Jews  is  an  object 
of  hatred  to  Mussulmans  and  the  cause  of  this 
oppression.  This  is  not  the  case,  because  the 
Mohammedan  faith  does  not  materially  differ 
from  the  Jewish,  and  their  hatred  towards 
Christians  is  yet  more  fierce  and  irreconcilable ; 
but  the  Jews  have  no  protectors,  they  are  con- 
sidered by  Mussulmans  as  abandoned  by  all  na- 
tions, because  they  will  not  renounce  their  ancient 
faith,  and  yet,  with  all  this  apparent  oppression, 
the  Jews  are  the  leading  men,  they  are  in  Barbary 
the  principal   mechanics,  they  are   at  the   head  of 

.  the  custom-house,  they  farm  the  revenues;  the  ex- 
portation of  various  articles  and  the  monopoly  of 
various  merchandise  are  secured  to  them  by  pur- 

-  chase,  they  control  the  mint  and  regulate  the 
coinage  of  money,  they  keep  the  Bey's  jewels  and 
valuable  articles,  and  are  his  treasurers,  secre- 
taries,  and   interpreters;  the  little  known   of  arts, 

•  science  and  medicine,  is  confined  to  the  Jews ; 
there  are  many  who  are  possessed  of  immense 
wealth,  many  who  are  poor.  How  then  is  it  that 
these  people,  so  important  and  so  necessary, 
should  be  so  oppressed!  The  fact  is,  this  oppres- 
sion is,  in  a  great  measure,  imaginary.  A  Turk 
strikes  a  Jew,  who  dares  not  return  the  blow,  but 
he  complains  to  the  Bey  and  has  justice  done  him. 
If  a  Jew  commits  crime,  if  the  punishment  affects 


16  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

his  life,  these  people,  so  national,  always  purchase 
his  pardon ;  the  disgrace  of  one  afifects  the  whole 
community;  they  are  ever  in  the  presence  of  the 
Bey,  every  Minister  has  two  or  three  Jewish 
agents,  and  when  they  unite  to  attain  an  object, 
it  cannot  be  prevented.  These  people,  then,  what- 
ever may  be  said  of  their  oppression,  possess  a 
very  controlling  influence,  their  friendship  is 
worthy  of  being  preserved  by  public  functionaries, 
and  their  opposition  is  to  be  dreaded.  The  in- 
trigue which  the  Jewish  merchants  set  on  foot,  to 
obtain  from  me  the  prize  goods  at  their  own 
valuation,  I  could  not,  with  all  my  efforts,  effectu- 
ally destroy,  as  I  discovered  that  the  Bey,  his 
brother,  two  sons,  and  several  of  his  officers,  were 
interested  in  the  result.  Their  skill  in  business, 
and  the  advantage  which  they  take  of  Christians 
and  Moors,  have  been  the  subject  of  severe  and 
just  animadversion;  they  will,  if  not  narrowly 
watched,  avail  themselves  of  opportunities  to  over- 
reach and  defraud;  for  this,  the  world  has 
showered  upon  them  opprobrium  and  insult.  But 
has  the  world  ever  held  out  proper  inducements 
for  the  Jews  to  be  honest,  except  in  countries 
where  they  enjoy  equal  privileges?  If  they  are 
just,  they  are  not  credited  for  it ;  if  they  possess 
merit,  they  are  not  encouraged  and  rewarded ;  if 
they  do  a  good  action,  approbation  does  not  fol- 
low; proscribed  and  insulted,  their  virtues  denied, 
public  opinion  attaching  to  them  the  odium  due 
to  bad  men  of  all  persuasions,  no  friend,  no  solace 
in  misfortune,  haunted,  despised,  and  shunned,  it 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  17 

is  still  asked  of  them  to  be  honest,  when  they  re- 
ceive no  reward  or  gratitude  for  their  honesty, 
when  no  man  will  give  them  credit  for  one  good 
action! — What  is  the  incitement  to  virtue?  The 
approbation  of  conscience  and  the  world ;  the  Jew 
in  Barbary  has  no  friend  but  his  wealth,  that  pur- 
chases protection  and  toleration,  and  he  is  ever 
zealous  and  active  in  the  accumulation  of  it,  and  if 
he  is  not  fastidious  in  the  mode  of  his  acquire- 
ment, he  is  not  singular — exclusive  honesty  is  the 
property  of  no  sect. 

"As  a  proof  that  the  Jew  in  Tunis  can  exercise 
a  very  important  influence,  I  shall  relate  one  fact 
which  touches  us  nearly :  Upon  some  frivolous 
occasion  an  American  Consul  beat  a  Jew,  who  was 
attached  to  the  Custom-house ;  the  Jew  com- 
plained to  the  Hamouda  Pacha,  who  ordered  that 
the  Consul  should  openly  beg  pardon  of  said  Jew 
in  the  Custom-house,  and  as  a  proof  of  humility, 
should  kiss  him — which  was  done.  This  was  an 
act  of  justice,  on  the  part  of  the  Bey,  though  it 
was  not  flattering  to  our  nation,  nor  to  the  officer, 
who  could  persecute  the  persecuted,  proscribe  the 
proscribed.  The  kingdom  of  Tunis  contains 
about  sixty  thousand  Jews,  and  whatever  differ- 
ence of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  their  population 
in  the  city,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  contains  more 
than  twenty  thousand.  These  are  divided  into 
Italian  and  Barbary  Jews,  who  are  distinguished 
by  their  dress.  The  Barbary  Jews  wear  a  blue 
frock  without  a  collar  or  sleeves,  loose  linen 
sleeves   being   substituted,   with   wide   drawers    of 


18  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

the  same  article,  no  stockings,  excepting  in  winter, 
and  black  slippers,  a  small  black  skull  cap  on  their 
head,  which  is  shaved,  and  around  which  a  blue 
silk  handkerchief  is  bound;  they  are  permitted  to 
wear  no  colors.  The  Italian  Jews  dress  like 
Christian  residents,  with  the  addition  of  a  haick, 
or  bournouse,  thrown  over  their  heads.  They 
inhabit  a  distinct  quarter  of  the  town,  and  are 
governed  by  a  person  named  by  the  Bey,  who 
hears  and  decides  all  disputes,  and  orders,  if  neces- 
sary, corporal  punishment  to  be  inflicted;  so  that 
it  may  be  said  they  enjoy  the  privilege  of  being 
governed  by  men  of  their  own  persuasion ;  they 
support  their  poor,  the  rich  being  compelled  to 
pay  double  price  for  articles  of  luxury,  one  half 
of  which  goes  to  the  poor ;  their  houses  are  low 
and  mean,  which  they  are  ever  whitewashing  and 
cleansing.  They  have  no  system  of  education, 
their  children  being  taught  the  Hebrew  language, 
and  the  ceremonies  of  religion,  which  are  the 
same  here,  though  more  rigidly  observed,  as  they 
are  in  every  other  part  of  the  world  where  Jews 
reside.  Polygamy,  which  is  allowed  by  the 
Mohammedan  law,  and  not  forbidden  by  the 
Mosaic  institutions,  prevails  in  Barbary,  but  is 
very  rare.  I  heard  of  but  one  Jew  in  Tunis  who 
had  two  wives,  his  name  was  Alhaock,  a  very 
rich  and  active  old  man.  As  it  will  readily  be 
imagined  in  a  country  which  is  not  civilized,  the 
Jewish  women,  like  the  Turkish,  are  considered 
as  an  inferior  race.  They  are  fat  and  awkward, 
their    dress    consisting   of    a    petticoat    of    silk    of 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  19 

two  colors,  principally  yellow  and  purple,  around 
which  is  thrown,  in  several  folds,  a  thin  gauze 
wrapper;  the  head  is  covered  with  a  colored  silk 
handkerchief;  those  who  are  single  have  their 
hair  platted  in  two  or  three  rows,  to  the  end  of 
which  they  suspend  colored  ribands ;  they  wear 
no  stockings  but  slippers,  with  silver  cinctures 
around  the  ankles;  and  the  soles  of  their  feet,  their 
hands,  nails  and  eye-brows,  tinged  and  colored  of 
a  dark  brown,  from  the  juice  of  a  herb  called 
Henna.  When  they  walk  they  unloosen  from 
their  neck  a  piece  of  black  crape,  with  which  they 
cover  their  mouth  and  chin,  leaving  the  upper 
part  of  their  face  bare.  As  to  their  living  and 
domestic  concerns,  I  can  say  nothing,  never  hav- 
ing visited  any  of  them. 

"On  the  birth-night  of  General  Washington,  a 
ball  was  given  at  the  American  Consulate;  the 
Jewish  brokers  called  to  solicit  the  favour  of  permis- 
sion to  bring  their  women,  as  they  call  them,  to 
see  the  company,  which  I  granted;  and  one  of  the 
rooms  was  nearly  filled  with  the  Jewish  beauty, 
and  beau  monde  of  Tunis.  They  were  all  dressed 
magnificently,  covered  with  jewels,  gold  brocades, 
tissue,  lama  and  gauze,  arranged  without  any 
taste,  and  crowded  together  without  fancy ;  their 
feet  bare,  with  embroidered  slippers,  and  gold  and 
silver  bracelets  around  their  ankles.  Their  com- 
plexions were  fair,  their  eyes  and  teeth  were  good, 
but  their  figures  were  corpulent  and  unwieldy, 
which  is  considered  a  sign  of  beauty.  The  ladies 
of  Tunis  who  could  speak  Arabic,  conversed  with 


20  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

the  Jewesses  very  courteously,  and  they  appeared 
modest  and  well  behaved. 

"The  only  opportunity  which  the  females  have 
of  seeing  each  other,  for  visiting  is  unknown  in  a 
population  so  extensive,  is  at  the  burial  ground; 
this  is  outside  of  the  walls,  surrounded  by  no  en- 
closure, and  open  to  animals  of  all  kinds ;  the 
tombs  are  built  of  mortar  and  brick,  they  are  flat, 
and  not  more  than  six  inches  in  elevation  from 
the  ground :  at  the  head  of  each  tomb  is  a  small 
square  piece  of  slate  bedded  in,  on  which  is  en- 
graved the  name  of  the  deceased  in  Hebrew 
characters. 

"Every  Friday  afternoon  the  Hebrew  women  as- 
semble with  a  small  earthen  jar,  containing  slack 
lime  and  a  brush,  with  which  they  clean  and 
whitewash  the  tombs  of  their  family  and  friends. 
It  was  in  this  abode  of  death  that  I  accustomed 
myself  to  study  the  character  of  these  people.  The 
wife  or  mother  arrived  at  the  place,  would  deposit 
her  little  jar  and  brush  on  the  ground,  and  then 
seek  among  the  inscriptions  for  the  name  of  one 
who  was  still  dear  to  her;  having  discovered  it, 
she  touched  the  inscription  with  her  hand,  which 
she  carried  to  her  lips  and  kissed;  then,  seating 
herself  on  the  tomb,  she  wept  bitterly,  consoling 
herself  in  affliction  by  talking  with  the  dead,  and 
recounting  her  domestic  affairs,  her  happiness  or 
afflictions,  and  with  a  melancholy  ignorance, 
soliciting  the  kind  interference  and  affectionate 
protection  of  her  dead  kindred :  having  expended 
some  time  in  the  luxury  of  grief,  she  would  clean 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  21 

the  tomb,  and  join  her  companions  to  learn  "the 
passing  tidings  of  the  times".  These  instances  of 
a  feeling  and  benevolent  heart,  and  of  a  pious 
reverence,  I  frequently  have  witnessed :  It  is  in 
the  crucible  of  adversity  that  the  Jew,  in  weep- 
ing over  his  own  distresses,  has  taught  himself  to 
weep  over  the  distresses  of  others.  It  was  here 
that  I  saw  the  daughters  of  Israel,  no  longer  on 
Zion  or  in  Sharon,  no  longer  triumphant,  free  and 
beloved,  exhibit  proofs  of  a  heart  which  should 
be  prized  above  all  things,  which  is  more  estim- 
able than  riches  or  precious  ointment.  But  who 
will  seek  the  virtues  of  the  Jews?  Who  credits 
them  for  their  charity,  for  their  domestic  fidelity, 
for  their  national  faith,  and  mutual  protection? — 
none.  Their  vices,  which  are  like  the  vices  of 
other  men,  except  that  treason  and  murder  are 
unknown  to  them,  have  been  the  theme  of  re- 
proach, of  prejudice,  and  punishment."  ( 
Noah  was  a  man  of  character  and  courage.  He 
found  his  fellow  consuls  in  Tunis  to  be  a  group 
of  men  of  the  best  intentions  but  sadly  lacking  in 
the  ability  to  contend  with  the  cunning  of  the 
Turk.  The  representatives  of  foreign  countries 
were  forever  matching  their  wits  against  the 
shrewd  Tunisians,  but  to  little  avail.  Noah  de- 
termined that  the  only  way  in  which  a  foreign  rep- 
resentative could  receive  justice  in  Tunis  was 
by  compelling  respect.  Respect  in  that  barbaric 
land  meant  physical  fear,  and  Noah  lost  no  time 
in  demonstrating  that  he  was  a  man  of  his  word 
and  prepared  to  defend  his  rights  by  force.     They 


22  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

could  not  mince  words  with  him ;  Noah  became 
the  leader  of  the  consuls.  The  flag  of  the  United 
States  over  the  American  Consulate  was  respected 
as  was  the  flag  of  no  other  nation,  and  the  con- 
sulate became  a  haven  for  persecuted  and  dis- 
tressed foreigners.  Before  Noah  left  the  United 
States  for  his  post,  he  had  been  apprised  of  the 
fact  that  the  Bey  of  Algiers  looked  upon  American 
citizens  as  floating  speculators  or  traveling  pigeons 
whom  he  might  pluck  with  impunity.  He  deter- 
mined that  such  a  state  of  things  should  not  pre- 
vail and  that  the  wrongs  which  Americans  had 
suffered  should  not  be  repeated.  An  opportunity 
to  carry  out  this  decision  soon  presented  itself  in 
the  shape  of  a  foreign  resident  in  Tunis. 

A  respected  Italian  merchant,  by  the  name  of 
Curadi,  came  one  day  into  the  American  Consulate 
and  informed  Noah,  that  bills  of  exchange  which 
he  (Curadi)  had  drawn  for  twenty  thousand 
piasters  were  returned  protested,  and  that  the 
holders  were  about  to  seize  upon  him  and  all  his 
property,  amounting  to  double  that  sum,  to  sacri- 
fice his  merchandise  and  ruin  his  prospects  for- 
ever; that  his  Consul,  Mr.  Nyssen,  the  Dutch 
Agent,  being  so  completely  in  the  power  of  the 
Bey,  could  not  protect  him;  in  this  extremity  he 
had  ventured  to  implore  the  benevolent  protection 
of  the  United  States,  to  enable  him  to  sell  his 
property  with  credit  to  himself,  and  pay  his  debts 
honorably.  Noah  informed  the  Italian  that  it  was 
not  customary  to  take  the  subjects  of  another 
power   under   American   protection,   but   if   he    en- 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  23 

tered  the  consulate  and  claimed  the  protection  of 
the  flag,  he  should  have  it.  Mr.  Curadi  then  de- 
clared that  he  would  not  leave  the  house,  as  he 
considered  it  a  sanctuary  afforded  to  the  unfortu- 
nate, and  respected  by  the  Tunisian  authorities. 
Curadi  had  been  traced  to  the  Consulate  and  this 
information  had  been  delivered  to  the  Bey.  Pa- 
tiently they  awaited  the  approaching  storm. 

The  next  morning  a  Janizary  appeared  before 
Consul  Noah  with  the  compliments  of  the  Bey,  at 
the  same  time  requesting  Noah  to  give  up  the 
Christian  merchant  "who  was  a  debtor,  endeavor- 
ing to  defraud  his  creditors".  Noah  desired  the 
Bey's  envoy  to  convey  his  respects  to  his  Highness, 
and  inform  him  that  he  was  well  aware  that  no 
person  was  ever  given  up  who  had  taken  sanc- 
tuary in  the  American  Consulate.  The  following 
day  the  Janizary  returned  with  the  same  message, 
to  which  the  same  answer  was  given.  These  visits 
continued  for  several  days  with  no  better  effect 
and  each  day  the  message  was  augmented  by  an 
additional    insult. 

Noah,  during  this  time,  had  occasion  to  send 
his  servant,  Abdallah,  an  honest  old  Persian,  to 
the  palace  for  a  permit  to  land  a  barrel  of  wine. 
In  a  short  time  the  messenger  returned  in  great 
trepidation.  "Oh,  my  lord,"  said  he,  "such  a 
piece  of  business,  such  an  unfortunate  affair;"  he 
looked  very  much  alarmed  and  spoke  half  French, 
partly  Arabic  and  Persian.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  Noah  learned  what  had  happened.  When 
Abdallah    was    crossing   the    patio    at    the    palace, 


24  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

it  appeared,  the  Bey  had  perceived  him  and  ad- 
dressed him  thus :  "Abdallah,  I  have  sent  for 
several  days  past  to  the  Consul,  with  orders  to 
give  up  that  Christian ;  I  had  a  good  opinion  of 
the  Consul,  and  did  think  him  a  good  man,  but  he 
knows  he  has  no  right  to  protect  a  debtor  (Noah 
knew  to  the  contrary),  and  finding  him  indifferent 
to  my  orders,  you  may  now  tell  him,  that  to- 
morrow I  will  send  twenty  Mamelukes  into  his 
house  and  cut  the   Christian  to   pieces !" 

Curadi  heard  the  message,  and  trembled  like  an 
aspen  leaf;  Noah  lost  all  patience  at  this  insult. 
"The  creditors  of  Mr.  Curadi,"  Noah  explains  in 
his  "Travels",  "could  have  settled  honorably  with 
him  at  my  house.  I  was  security  for  his  person, 
but  according  to  custom,  they  determined  to  seize 
him  and  all  his  property,  sell  it  for  what  they 
pleased,  and  if  they  could  bring  him  to  debt,  to 
throw  him  in  prison  for  the  balance.  They  had 
bribed  the  Bey  to  get  him  from  my  house,  and  his 
Highness,  flattering  himself  that  I  was  ignorant 
of  my  rights,  ventured  to  experiment  by  threats. 
I  determined  to  resist  them,  we  had  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  I  resolved  to  shut  all  the  gates 
and  doors,  hoist  the  flag,  and  beat  ofif  the  Mame- 
lukes if  they  should  decide  upon  an  attack.  Curadi, 
whose  'head's  assurance  was  but  frail',  protested 
against  resistance,  and  solicited  me  to  accompany 
him  to  the  Bey  where  he  would  state  the  nature 
of  his  concerns.  We  did  this  the  next  morning. 
I  entered  the  hall  of  justice  where  the  Bey  was 
seated    surrounded    by    his    ministers.      After    the 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  25 

customary  salutation,  he  asked  very  calmly,  what 
my  business  was.  •  "Your  Excellency  is  aware," 
said  I,  "that  any  person  that  takes  refuge  in  the 
house  of  a  Consul  is  protected;  this  Christian  en- 
tered my  house  as  a  sanctuary,  and  you  have  en- 
deavored to  destroy  my  rights  by  attempting  to 
take  him  from  my  protection;  failing  in  that,  you 
had  recourse  to  threats,  and  yesterday  you  sent  me 
a  message  by  Abdallah,  stating,  that  if  I  did  not 
instantly  give  him  up,  you  would  send  twenty 
Mamelukes  and  cut  him  to  pieces.  Now,  sir,  that 
the  sanctuary  of  the  American  house  may  not  be 
violated,  I  have,  at  his  request,  brought  him  to 
you,  finding  that  you  are  about  to  deprive  the 
American  flag  of  a  privilege  accorded  to  all 
civilized  powers,  and  which  I  assure  you,  we  shall 
not  relinquish  without  a  struggle."  "I  never  said 
such  a  thing,"  said  the  Bey,  rising,  "the  slave  is 
mad — did  I  say  so,  Abdallah?"  asked  he,  with  a 
furious  look — the  poor  trembling  dragoman  replied ; 
"No  sir,  I  was  mistaken."  "There,  Consul,"  said 
the  Bey,  "how  could  you  believe  such  a  thing,  such 
a  preposterous  thing?  Abdallah  is  an  old  fool!" 
Noah  pledged  himself  for  Curadi's  safe  keeping. 
The  creditors  looked  disappointed,  and  Hassan 
and  Mustapha,  the  two  sons  of  the  Bey,  who  had 
been  the  cause  of  this  trouble,  darted  a  furious 
look  at  Noah,  which  he  returned  with  perfect  in- 
difference. "Having  confirmed  the  rights  and 
privileges  due  to  the  American  Consulate,"  writes 
Noah,  "and  defeated  the  intrigues  of  these  rogues, 
I  returned  to  Tunis  triumphant." 


26  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

This  was  the  sort  of  diplomacy  upon  which 
foreigners  were  dependent,  but  Noah  was  the  only 
consul  who  was  fearless  enough  to  use  it,  and  it 
was  in  this  way  that  the  business  of  the  United 
States  in  the  Barbary  States  was  successfully 
transacted.  The  irony  of  the  future  that  awaited 
Noah  is  all  the  more  poignant  because  of  it. 

It  is  sufficient  to  record  that  Noah  performed 
his  duties  faithfully  and  exceedingly  well,  the  in- 
cident related  being  an  example  of  the  methods 
he  employed  to  accomplish  his  work.  The  Consul 
had  very  little  respect  for  the  rulers  of  the  Bar- 
bary States, — considering  them  barbarians  and 
assassins.  He  hoped  that  a  time  would  come 
when  some  determined  civilized  power  would 
wrest  that  fine  portion  of  the  globe  from  their 
control.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
suffered  nothing,  however,  from  these  personal 
prejudices.  On  the  contrary,  he  strengthened  its 
position  and  its  power;  he  was  mild,  polite, 
generous,  and  conformed  with  the  customs  of  the 
place,  but,  withal,  energetic  and  firm  on  points 
connected  with  the  integrity  of  his  country.  He 
never  yielded  a  point  of  honor  and  such  a  course 
produced  esteem  and  respect,  and,  above  all,  fear. 

Noah  adjusted  the  affair  involving  the  enslaving 
of  the  crew  of  the  American  vessel  from  Salem, 
referred  to  above,  in  a  manner  advantageous  to 
the  United  States.  He  was  confronted  with  a 
difficult  problem,  requiring  the  exercise  of  dili- 
gence and  shrewdness,  and  he  performed  his  mis- 
sion   very    creditably;    but    he    was    compelled    to 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  27 

expend  a  sum  exceeding  the  amount  allowed  him 
by  his  government.  In  return  for  this,  he  was 
made  the  victim  of  a  very  unreasonable  act,  an 
act  which  must  forever  remain  a  blot  upon  the 
record  of  James  Madison's  administration  as 
President. 

Noah's  political  opponents  at  home  made  use 
of  the  incident  of  the  freeing  of  the  enslaved  crew 
to  effect  his  recall.  After  all  he  had  sacrificed  in 
the  service,  having  more  than  once  placed  himself 
in  danger  of  losing  his  head  for  his  country,  and 
after  having  accomplished  so  much  where  others 
had  failed  entirely,  Noah  was  rudely  dismissed  to 
satisfy  the  clamoring  of  a  clique  of  political  vam- 
pires. He  received  the  notice  from  the  hand  of 
his  old  schoolmate,  Stephen  Decatur,  on  board 
the  "Guerriere",  when  the  American  squadron 
was  in  Mediterranean  waters.  Decatur  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  letter  he  had  been 
commissioned  to  deliver  to  Consul  Noah.  When 
Noah  broke  the  seal  of  the  despatch,  he  read,  to 
his  great  surprise  and  mortification,  the  following: 

"Dept.  of  State,  April  25,  1815. 
"Sir,— 

At  the  time  of  your  appointment,  as  Consul  at 
Tunis,  it  was  not  known  that  the  RELIGION 
which  you  profess  would  form  any  obstacle  to  the 
exercise  of  your  Consular  functions.  Recent  infor- 
mation, however,  on  which  entire  reliance  may  be 
placed,  proves  that  it  would  produce  a  very  unfavor- 


28  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

able  effect.  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  WHICH, 
the  President  has  deemed  it  expedient  to  revoke 
your  commission.  On  the  receipt  of  this  letter, 
therefore,  you  will  consider  yourself  no  longer  in 
the  public  service.  There  are  some  circumstances, 
too,  connected  with  your  accounts,  which  require  a 
more  particular  explanation,  which,  with  that  al- 
ready given,  are  not  approved  by  the  President. 

I  am,  very  respectfully.   Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

(signed)    James    Monroe". 

"(to)    Mordecai   M.   Noah,  Esquire,   etc." 

The  receipt  of  this  news  shocked  Noah  inex- 
pressibly. He  records  his  feelings  vehemently 
in  the  account  of  his  Travels.  "To  receive  a 
letter,  which  at  once  stripped  me  of  office,  of 
rights,  of  honor,  and  credit,  was  sufficient  to 
astonish  and  dismay  a  person  of  stronger  nerves," 
Noah  writes.  "What  was  to  be  done?  I  had  not  a 
moment  to  determine.  I  cast  my  eye  hastily  on 
Commodore  Decatur.  I  was  satisfied  at  a  glance, 
that  he  knew  not  the  contents  of  the  letter.  It 
was  necessary  that  he  should  not,  for  had  he 
been  made  acquainted  with  the  determination  of  the 
government,  it  would  have  been  his  duty,  and  he 
would  have  exercised  it  promptly,  to  have  sent  an 
officer  ashore,  taken  possession  of  the  seals  and 
the  archives  of  the  Consulate,  and  I  should  have 
returned  to  Tunis,  stripped  of  power,  an  outcast, 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  29 

degraded  and  disgraced,  a  heavy  debt  against  me ; 
and  from  my  Consulate,  from  the  possession  of 
power,  respected  and  feared,  I  should  in  all  proba- 
bility have  gone  into  a  dungeon,  where  I  might 
have  perished,  neglected  and  unpitied ;  and  for 
what?  for  carrying  into  efifect  the  express  orders  of 
the  government!  I  had  no  time  to  curse  such  per- 
fidy. I  folded  up  the  letter  with  apparent  in- 
difference  and  put  it  in  my  pocket." 

When  an  opportunity  presented  itself  Noah 
once  more  read  the  letter.  "I  paused  to  reflect  on 
its  contents,"  he  continues.  "I  was  at  a  loss  to 
account  for  its  strange  and  unprecedented  tenor; 
my  religion  an  object  of  hostility?  I  thought  I 
was  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  protected  by 
the  constitution  in  my  religious  as  well  as  my 
civil  rights.  My  religion  was  known  to  the 
government  at  the  time  of  my  appointment,  and 
it  constituted  one  of  the  prominent  causes  why  I 
was  sent  to  Barbary.  If  then  any  "unfavorable" 
events  had  been  created  by  my  religion,  they 
should  have  first  ascertained,  and  not  acting  upon 
a  supposition,  upon  imaginary  consequences,  have 
thus  violated  one  of  the  most  sacred  and  delicate 
rights  of  a  citizen.  Admitting,  then,  that  my 
religion  had  produced  an  unfavorable  effect,  no 
official  notice  should  have  been  taken  of  it ;  I 
could  have  been  recalled  without  placing  on  file 
a  letter  thus  hostile  to  the  spirit  and  character  of 
our  institutions.  But  my  religion  was  not  known 
in  Barbary;  from  the  moment  of  my  landing  I 
had  been  in  full  possession  of  my  Consular  func- 


30  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

tions,  respected  and  feared  by  the  government, 
and  enjoying  the  esteem  and  good  will  of  every 
resident.  What  injury  could  my  religion  create? 
I  lived  like  the  other  Consuls.  The  flag  of  the 
United  States  was  displayed  on  Sundays  and 
Christian  holidays ;  the  Catholic  priest,  who  came 
to  my  house  to  sprinkle  holy  water  and  pray,  was 
received  with  deference,  and  fully  allowed  to  per- 
form his  pious  purpose ;  the  bare-footed  Francis- 
can, who  came  to  beg,  received  alms  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ;  the  Greek  Bishop,  who  sent  to 
me  a  decorated  branch  of  palm  on  Palm  Sunday, 
received,  in  return,  a  customary  donation ;  the 
poor  Christian  slaves,  when  they  wanted  a  favor, 
came  to  me ;  the  Jews  alone  asked  nothing  from 
me.     Why  then  am  I  persecuted  for  my  religion? 

"Even  admitting  that  my  religion  was  an 
obstacle,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  not, 
are  we  prepared  to  yield  up  the  admirable  and 
just  institutions  of  our  country  at  the  shrine  of 
foreign  bigotry  and  superstition?  Are  we  pre- 
pared to  disfranchise  one  of  our  own  citizens,  to 
gratify  the  intolerant  views  of  the  Bey  of  Tunis? 
Has  it  come  to  this — that  the  noble  character  of 
the  most  illustrious  republic  on  earth,  celebrated 
for  its  justice  and  the  sacred  character  of  its 
institutions,  is  to  be  sacrificed  at  the  shrine  of  a 
Barbary  pirate?     Have  we  then   fallen   so  low? 

"What  would  have  been  the  consequence,  had 
the  Bey  known  and  objected  to  my  religion?  He 
would  have  learned  from  me,  in  language  too 
plain    to    be    misunderstood,    that    whomever    the 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  31 

United  States  commissions  as  their  representa- 
tive, he  must  receive  and  respect,  if  his  conduct  be 
proper;  on  that  subject  I  could  not  have  permitted 
a  word  to  be  said.  If  such  a  principle  is  at- 
tempted to  be  established,  it  will  lay  the  founda- 
tion for  the  most  unhappy  and  dangerous  dis- 
putes, foreign  nations  will  dictate  to  us  what  re- 
ligion our  officers  at  their  courts  should  profess. 
With  all  the  reflection,  and  the  most  painful 
anxiety,  I  could  not  account  for  this  most  extra- 
ordinary and  novel  procedure.  Some  base  in- 
triguer, probably  one  who  was  ambitious  of  hold- 
ing this  wretched  office,  had  been  at  some  pains 
to  represent  to  the  government,  that  my  religion 
would  produce  injurious  effects,  and  the  Presi- 
dent (Madison),  instead  of  closing  the  door  on 
such  interdicted  subjects,  had  listened  and  con- 
curred ;  and  after  having  braved  the  perils  of  the 
ocean,  residing  in  a  barbarous  country,  without 
family  or  relatives,  supporting  the  rights  of  the 
nation,  and  hazarding  my  life  from  poison  or  the 
stiletto,  I  find  my  own  government,  the  only  pro- 
tector I  can  have,  sacrificing  my  credit,  violating 
my  rights,  and  insulting  my  feelings,  and  the 
religious  feelings  of  a  whole  nation.  O !  shame, 
shame ! !  The  course  which  men  of  refined  or 
delicate  feelings  should  have  pursued,  had  there 
been  grounds  for  such  a  suspicion,  was  an  obvious 
one.  The  President  should  have  instructed  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  have  recalled  me,  and  to 
have  said,  that  the  causes  should  be  made  known 
to  me  on  my  return ;  such  a  letter  as   I  received 


32  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

should  never  have  been  v^ritten,  and,  above  all, 
should  never  have  been  put  on  file.  But  it  is  not 
true,  that  my  religion  either  had,  or  would  have, 
produced  injurious  effects.  The  Bey  of  Algiers 
had  appointed  Abraham  Busnah,  his  minister  at 
the  court  of  France.  Nathan  Bacri  is  Algerine 
Consul  at  Marseilles,  his  brother  holds  the  same 
of^ce  at  Leghorn.  The  Treasurer,  Interpreter, 
and  Commercial  Agent  of  the  Grand  Seigneur  at 
Constantinople,    are   Jews." 

Noah  could  not  avoid  reflecting  on  the  status 
of  the  Jews  in  the  Barbary  states,  and  he  could 
not  fail  to  remember  that  the  members  of  his  race 
were  more  acceptable  to  the  Mussulmans  than 
were  Christians.  The  government  knew  that 
Noah  had  kept  within  the  purview  of  his  orders, 
and  that  he  would  give  a  correct  account  of  his 
disbursements.  There  was  no  adequate  excuse 
for  recall,  either  on  religious  grounds  or  that 
there  were  some  circumstances  connected  with 
the  Consul's  accounts  which  required  explanation. 
No  officer  was  ever  recalled  for  want  of  mere 
explanations  in  his  accounts. 

Noah  felt  that  he  should  not  make  his  country 
look  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  Mussulmans  by  in- 
forming them  that  the  President  had  made  objec- 
tions to  his  religion.  He  stated  to  the  Bey,  there- 
fore, that  he  was  about  to  visit  Italy  on  business. 
The  Bey  appeared  to  be  alarmed.  "Why,"  said  he, 
"there  is  no  dispute,  I  hope.  Consul.  We  are  on 
good  terms,  are  we  not?"  "Perfectly  so,"  replied 
Noah.     The   Minister  of   Marine   said   to   the   Bey 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  33 

that  the  United  States  was  about  to  tender  him 
a  higher  post.  The  Bey  shook  Noah  kindly  and 
affectionately  by  the  hand.  They  had  always 
been  on  good  terms  personally,  in  spite  of  the 
several  unpleasant  occasions  of  friction  between 
the  two  governments.  *'The  ministers  all  recip- 
rocated their  good  wishes  and  kind  remem- 
brances," the  Consul  tells  us,  "and  I  left  the  palace 
regretted,  I  believe,  by  all.  So  much  for  the 
"unfavorable  effects  of  my  religion''. 

If  Noah's  departure  was  in  anywise  regretted  at 
the  palace,  it  is  doubly  certain  that  his  fellow- 
consuls  were  reluctant  to  bid  him  farewell. 
Richard  B.  Jones,  Consul  of  the  United  States  at 
Tripoli,  wrote  that  Noah  had  displayed  a  zeal  and 
firmness  unequalled  in  the  defense  of  American 
rights,  and  that  he  "had  reasoned  wisely,  and 
acted  courageously".  The  following,  a  letter 
from  Andrew  C.  Gierlieu,  the  Danish  Consul- 
General,  is  further  and  convincing  evidence  on 
that  point:  "Need  I  tell  you,  my  highly  esteemed 
friend,"  we  find  his  Danish  Majesty's  representa- 
tive asking,  "how  sincerely  I  am  afflicted  at  your 
departure?  My  good  Mr.  Martino,  too,  will  leave 
me  soon,  and  then  I  shall  be  alone,  quite  alone, 
in  this  unhappy  country.  I  have  always  esteemed 
your  character;  and  it  is,  and  will  be  a  consola- 
tion to  me,  in  this  dreary  place,  where  honor, 
virtue,  and  character  are  the  most  shocking  vices  a 
mortal  can  possess,  to  have  gained  such  a  friend, 
I  hope  for  life,  and  wherever  we  shall  live,  as 
you,    my    most    valued    Mr.    Noah.      Be    then    as 


34  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

happy,  my  most  sincerely  esteemed  and  regretted 
friend,  as  you  certainly  deserve,  and  as  I  wish 
you  from  all  my  heart;  and  let  us  meet  soon  again 
in  a  less  unhappy  country,  where  virtue,  honor, 
and  manly  open  character,  are  no  vices.  We  shall 
always  meet  as  friends,  and  we  will  dare  to  say 
that  we  lived  and  acted  like  men  of  honor.  Re- 
member me  as  I  always  shall  remember  you.  Be 
a  friend  of  my  friends,  as  I  shall  always  be  of 
yours,  if  they  resemble  you.  Be  a  friend  of  my 
country,  as  I  always  was  of  yours. 

Your  sincerely  devoted   friend, 

Gierlieu." 

"M.  M.  Noah,  Esq.,  Consul  of  the  U.  S." 

It  is  a  fact  that  Noah's  friends  in  the  United 
States  remained  true  to  him,  that  he  was  subse- 
quently vindicated  before  the  people,  and  that 
his  accounts  were  satisfactorily  and  properly  ad- 
justed. But  the  obnoxious  letter  of  dismissal 
could  not  be  removed  from  the  files  of  the  State 
Department.  "Delays,  red  tape,  and  other  causes 
have  prevented  its  removal  even  to  this  day," 
wrote  one  of  his  biographers  some  years  ago.  But 
the  letter  is  no  longer  on  the  official  files  of  the 
government,  although  this  fact  does  not  indicate 
necessarily,  that  it  was  withdrawn.  It  merely  indi- 
cates that  the  letter  cannot  be  found,  or  has  been 
lost,  but  it  may  be  properly  said  that  it  has 
mysteriously  disappeared. 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  35 

To  his  activity  as  a  Jewish  liberator  and 
nationahst  Noah's  importance  in  Jewish  history 
is  due.  His  vision  was  of  Israel  once  more  a 
nation,  his  dream  was  of  a  Jewish  State  in  the 
Promised  Land,  leading  in  commerce  and  culture, 
and  foremost  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  His 
hope  was  the  hope  of  the  Zionist  to-day,  his 
mistake  in  the  selection  of  the  means  necessary  to 
accomplish  his  heart's  longings.  He  believed 
that  the  salvation  of  the  Jewish  people  would 
come  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  their  own 
neighbors,  he  pleaded  for  their  help,  begged  them 
to  succor  Israel,  not  realizing  that  the  working 
out  of  their  national  aspirations  is  left  in  their 
own  hands,  that  they  must  drink  waters  from 
their  own  wells,  grateful  that  those  in  whose 
midst  they  sojourn,  for  the  present,  at  least,  re- 
main indifferent.  He  called  for  aid  from  the 
citizens  of  a  new  land,  properly  engrossed  in 
their  own  labors  and  in  the  shaping  of  their  own 
destinies,  appealing  to  them  in  the  name  of  their 
pilgrim  ancestors,  forgetting  in  the  heat  of  his 
eloquence  the  bigotry  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  and 
the    scientific    snobbishness    of    their    sons. 

Noah  was  so  intensely  concerned  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  renationalization  of  the  scattered 
and  persecuted  Hebrews,  that,  like  a  drowning 
man,  he  clutched  for  whatever  straw  floated  near. 
And  like  a  drowning  man,  his  sincerity  cannot 
be  questioned,  for  life,  wealth,  and  the  allurements 
of  civic  power  were  naught  to  him  compared  with 
the  hopes  he  cherished  for  the  future  of  Jewry. 


36  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

He  advanced  projects  for  the  establishment  of 
a  Jewish  State  on  three  different  occasions.  The 
best  known  scheme  was  to  open,  in  1825,  on 
Grand  Island,  near  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  a  refuge  for 
Jews.  This  attempt  was  eminently  unsuccessful, 
causing  a  great  sensation  at  the  time,  amusing  to 
many,  and  markedly  unfortunate,  from  the  finan- 
cial point  of  view,  for  certain  capitalists  who 
aided  him.  A  chronicler  of  Erie  County,  N.  Y.,  in 
which  Grand  Island,  the  proposed  asylum  for  the 
persecuted  was  to  be  located,  tells  us  "that  it  was 
in  the  years  1824-1825  that  occurred  the  extra- 
ordinary and  amusing  experience  of  Mordecai  M. 
Noah  and  his  co-partners  in  an  attempt  to  found 
a  great  city  on  Grand  Island,  to  be  peopled  mainly 
by  the  Jews,  of  which  race  Noah  was  a  prominent 
representative.  The  whole  affair  resulted  in  an 
early  and  ludicrous  failure." 

The  most  accurate,  complete,  and  interesting 
account  of  the  plan  of  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah  to 
found  a  Jewish  State,  is  given  in  a  paper  read  by 
the  Hon.  Lewis  F.  Allen,  in  1866,  before  the 
Buffalo  Historical  Society.  Because  of  the 
historical  value  of  Mr.  Allen's  report,  it  is  re- 
printed  here   almost  in   its   entirety: 

"In  the  year  1825  an  eventful  history  was  about 
to  open  on  the  Niagara  frontier.  Those  members 
of  our  Society  who  then  lived  there,  in  the  relation 
of  their  reminiscences  of  that  period,  have  been 
prone  to  mark  it  as  an  eventful  year  in  three  thrill- 
ing incidents  relating  to  the  history  of  Buffalo, 
viz ;  the  visit  of  General  Lafayette,  the  completion 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  ^7 

and  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  hanging 
of  the  three  Thayers.  There  might  have  been 
added  to  it  another  memorable  occurrence,  not 
only  to  Buffalo,  but  to  the  Niagara  frontier.  Fol- 
lowing the  survey  of  Grand  Island  into  farm 
lots  for  settlement,  of  which  the  State  authorities 
gave  notice  in  the  public  newspapers,  an  idea 
occurred  to  the  late  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah,  a 
distinguished  Israelite  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
then  editor  of  a  prominent  political  journal  called 
"The  National  Advocate",  that  Grand  Island 
would  make  a  suitable  asylum  for  the  Jews  of  all 
nations,  whereon  they  could  establish  a  great  city 
and  become  emancipated  from  the  oppression 
bearing  so  heavily  upon  them  in  foreign  countries. 

"To  understand  this  matter  thoroughly,  it  is 
necessary  to  go  somewhat  into  particulars.  I 
knew  Major  Noah  well.  Physically,  he  was  a 
man  of  large,  muscular  frame,  rotund  person,  a 
benignant  face  and  a  most  portly  bearing.  Al- 
though a  native  of  the  United  States,  the  linea- 
ments of  his  race  were  impressed  upon  his  feat- 
ures with  unmistakable  character,  and  if  the  blood 
of  the  elder  Patriarchs  or  David  or  Solomon 
flowed  not  in  his  veins,  then  both  chronology  and 
genealogy  must  be  at  fault. 

"He  was  a  Jew,  thorough  and  accomplished.  His 
manners  were  genial,  his  heart  kind  and  his 
generous  sympathies  embraced  all  Israel,  even  to 
the  end  of  the  earth.  He  was  learned,  too,  not 
only  in  the  Jewish  and  civil  law,  but  in  the  ways 
of  the  world  at  large,  and  particularly  in  the  faith 


38  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

r  and  politics  of  "Saint  Tammany"  and  "The 
\  ;  Bucktail  Party"  of  the  State,  of  which  his  news- 
paper was  the  organ  and  chief  expounder  in  the 
City  of  New  York.  He  was  a  Counsellor  at  Law 
in  our  Courts;  had  been  Consul  General  for  the 
United  States  at  the  Kingdom  of  Tunis  on  the 
coast  of  Barbary — at  the  time  he  held  it,  a  most 
responsible   trust. 

"Although  a  visionary — as  some  would  call 
him — and  an  enthusiast  in  his  enterprises,  he  had 
won  many  friends  among  the  Gentiles,  who  had 
adopted  him  into  their  political  associations.  He 
had  warm  attachments  and  few  hates,  and  if  the 
sharpness  of  his  political  attacks,  created  for  the 
time,  a  personal  rancor  in  the  breasts  of  his 
opponents,  its  genial,  frank,  childlike  ingenuous- 
ness healed  it  all  at  the  first  opportunity.  He 
was  a  pundit  in  Hebrew  law,  traditions  and 
customs.  "To  the  manner  born",  he  was  loyal  to 
his  religion ;  and  no  argument  or  sophistry  could 
swerve  him  from  his  fidelity,  or  uproot  his  here- 
^(  ditary  faith.  My  friend  and  neighbor,  Wm.  A. 
Bird,  Esq.,  has  related  to  me  the  following 
anecdote : 

"Many  years  ago,  when  his  mother,  the  late 
Mrs.  Eunice  Porter  Bird  Pawling,  resided  at  Troy, 
New  York,  a  society  was  formed,  auxiliary  to  one 
organized  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  christianizing  the  Jews  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Mrs.  Pawling,  an  energetic  doer  of  good 
works,  in  the  then  infant  city  of  her  residence, 
was  applied  to  for  her  co-operation  in  that  novel 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  39 

benefaction.  She  had  her  own  doubts,  both  of 
its  utility  and  success,  of  which  results  have 
proved  the  correctness.  But,  determined  to  act 
understanding^,  she  wrote  a  letter  to  Major 
Noah,  asking  his  views  on  so  important  a  subject. 
He  replied  in  a  letter,  elaborately  setting  forth  the 
principles,  the  faith,  and  the  policy  of  the  Jewish 
people,  their  ancient,  hereditary  traditions,  their 
venerable  history,  their  hope  of  a  coming  Messiah, 
and  concluded  by  expressing  the  probability  that 
the  modern  Gentiles  would  sooner  be  converted 
to  the  Jewish  faith,  than  that  the  Jews  would  be 
converted  to  theirs. 

"Major  Noah — as  I  observed,  a  visionary,  some- 
what, and  an  enthusiast  altogether — made  two 
grand  mistakes  in  his  plan.  In  the  first  place,  he 
had  no  power  or  authority  over  his  people,  and, 
in  the  next,  he  was  utterly  mistaken  in  their 
aptitude  for  the  new  calling  he  proposed  them  to 
fulfill.  But  he  went  on.  He  induced  his  friend, 
the  late  Samuel  Leggett,  of  New  York,  to  make 
a  purchase  of  twenty-five  hundred  and  fifty-five 
acres,  partly  at  the  head  of  Grand  Island,  and 
partly  at  its  center,  opposite  Tonawanda,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Erie  Canal  into  the  Niagara  river. 
Either  or  both  these  localities  were  favorable  for 
building   a   city. 

''These  two  tracts  he  thought  sufficient  for  a 
settlement  of  his  Jewish  brethren;  which,  if  suc- 
cessful, would  result  in  all  the  lands  of  the  island 
falling  into  their  hands.  Nor  on  a  fairly,  suppo- 
sitious  ground — presuming  the   Jews,   in   business 


40  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

affairs,  to  be  like  the  Gentiles — were  his  theories 
so  much  mistaken.  The  canal,  opening  a  new 
avenue  to  the  great  western  world,  from  Lake 
Erie  to  the  'ultima-thule'  of  civilization  at  that 
day,  was  about  to  be  completed.  The  Lakes  had 
no  extensive  commerce.  Capital  was  unknown  as 
a  commercial  power  in  Western  New  York.  The 
Jews  had  untold  wealth,  ready  to  be  converted 
into  active  and  profitable  investment.  Tonawanda, 
in  common  with  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo,  with  a 
perfect  and  capacious  natural  harbor,  was  one  of 
the  western  termini  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  at 
the  foot  of  the  commerce  of  the  western  lakes. 
With  sufficient  steam  power  every  sail  craft  and 
steamboat  on  the  lakes  could  reach  Grand  Island 
and  Tonawanda,  discharge  into,  and  take  on,  their 
cargoes  from  canal  boats,  and  by  their  ample 
means  thus  command  the  western  trade.  Buffalo 
and  Black  Rock,  although  up  to  that  time  the 
chief  recipients  of  the  lake  commerce,  lacking 
moneyed  capital,  would  not  be  able  to  compete 
with  the  energy  and  abundant  resources  of  the 
proposed  commercial  cities  to  be  established  on 
Grand  Island  and  Tonawanda,  and  they  must 
yield  to  the  rivalry  of  the  Jews.  Such  was  Major 
Noah's  theory  and  such  his  plans.  Mr.  Leggett's 
co-operation,  with  abundant  means  for  the  land 
purchase,  he  had  already  secured.  Through  the 
columns  of  his  own  widely  circulating  "National 
Advocate,"  he  promulgated  his  plan,  and  by  the 
time  the  sale  of  the  Grand  Island  lots  was  to  be 
made   at   the   State   Land   Office   in   Albany,   other 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  41 

parties  of  capitalists  had  concluded  to  take  a  ven- 
ture in  the  speculation. 

"The   sale   took   place.     Mr.    Leggett   purchased 
one  thousand  and  twenty  acres  at  the  head  of  the 
Island,  at  the  cost  of  seven  thousand,  two  hundred 
dollars,   and    fifteen   hundred    and   thirty-five   acres 
along  the  river  in  a  compact  body  above,  opposite, 
and     below     Tonawanda,     at     the     price     of     nine 
thousand,    seven   hundred   and   eighty-five   dollars ; 
being   about   fifty   per   cent   above   the    average   of 
what  the  whole  body  of  land  sold  at  per  acre — that 
is  to   say :     The  whole   seventeen   thousand,   three 
hundred  and  eighty-one  acres  sold  for  seventy-six 
thousand,   two    hundred   and   thirty    dollars,   being 
an   average,   including  Mr.   Leggett's   purchase,   of 
about     four     dollars     and     thirty-eight    cents     per 
acre. 

"Next  to   Leggett,   Messrs.   John   B.   Yates   and 
Archibald  Mclntyre,  then  proprietors,  by  purchase 
from   the    State,   of   the   vast   system    of   lotteries, 
embracing  those  for  the  benefit  of  Union  College, 
and    other    eleemosynary    purposes — gambling    in 
lotteries   for  the   benefit  of  colleges   and   churches 
was    thought   to   be    a   moral    instrument   in   those 
days — purchased    through    other    parties    a    large 
amount  of  the  land,   and   Peter  Smith,   of  Peters- 
borough    (living,    however,    at    Schenectady) — and 
the   most   extensive   land   speculator   in   the    State, 
father  of  the   present   Gerrit   Smith — took   a   large 
share   of  the   remainder.    To   sum   up,   briefly,   the 
result  of  the  sale  of  Grand  Island  lands,   Leggett 
and  Yates  and  Mclntyre  complied  with  the  stipu- 


42  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

lated  terms  of  the  sale,  paid  over  to  the  State  their 
one-eighth  of  the  purchase  money,  and  gave  their 
bonds  for  the  remainder,  while  Smith — wary  in 
land-purchasing  practice  when  the  State  of  New 
York  was  the  seller — did  no  such  thing.  He  paid 
his  one-eighth  of  the  purchase  money  down,  as 
did  the  others,  but  neglected  to  give  his  bond  for 
payment  of  the  balance.  The  consequence  was, 
when  the  "eclaf  of  Noah's  Ararat  subsided,  and 
his  scheme  proved  a  failure,  the  land  went  down 
in  value,  and  Smith  forfeited  his  first  payment, 
and  the  lots  fell  back  to  the  State.  But  on  a 
lower  re-appraisal  by  the  State  some  years  after- 
wards. Smith  again  bought  at  less  than  one  half 
the  price  at  which  he  originally  purchased,  made 
his  one-eighth  payment  again,  and  gave  his  bond 
as  required ;  thus  pocketing  by  his  future  sale  of 
the  property,  over  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  the 
transaction. 

"All  this,  however,  aside  from  Mr.  Leggett's 
purchase  for  the  benefit  of  Major  Noah,  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  our  main  history,  and  is  only  given 
as  an  occurrence  of  the  times. 

"Major  Noah,  now  secure  in  the  possession  of  a 
nucleus  for  his  coveted  "City  of  Refuge  for  the 
Jews",  addressed  himself  to  its  foundation  and 
dedication.  He  had  heralded  his  intentions 
through  the  columns  of  his  "NATIONAL 
ADVOCATE."  His  contemporaries  of  the  press 
ridiculed  his  scheme  and  predicted  its  failure; 
yet  true  to  his  original  purpose,  he  determined  to 
carry  it  through.     Wise  Jews  around  him  shook 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  43 

their^Jieads  in  doubt  of  his  ability  to  effect  his 
plans,  and  withheld  from  him  their  support.  But, 
nothing  daunted,  he  ventured  it  unaided,  and  al- 
most alone.  By  the  aid  of  an  indomitable  friend, 
and  equally  enthusiastic  co-laborer,  Mr.  A.  B. 
Seixas,  of  New  York,  he  made  due  preparations, 
and  late  in  the  month  of  August,  in  the  year 
1825,  with  robes  of  office  and  insignia  of  rank 
securely  packed,  they  left  the  city  of  New  York 
for  Buffalo.  He  was  a  stranger  in  our  then  little 
village  of  twenty-five  hundred  people,  and  could 
rely  for  countenance  and  aid  only  on  his  old 
friend,  the  late  Isaac  S.  Smith,  then  residing  here, 
whom  he  had  known  abroad  while  in  his  consulate 
at  Tunis.  In  Mr.  Smith,  however,  he  found  a 
ready  assistant  in  his  plans.  Major  Noah,  with 
his  friend  Seixas,  arrived  in  Buffalo  in  the  last 
days  of  August.  He  had  got  prepared  a  stone, 
which  was  to  be  the  "chief  of  the  corner",  with 
proper  inscription,  and  of  ample  dimensions  for 
the  occasion.  This  stone  was  obtained  from  the 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  sandstone  quarries.  The  inscrip- 
tion, written  by  Major  Noah,  was  cut  by  the  late 
Seth  Chapin,  of  Buffalo. 

"As  on  examination  when  arriving  here,  he 
could  not  well  get  to  Grand  Island  to  locate  and 
establish  his  city,  it  was  concluded  to  lay  the 
cornerstone  in  the  Episcopal  church  of  the  village, 
then  under  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Addison  Searle. 
As  this  strange  and  remarkable  proceeding,  and 
the  novel  act  of  laying  a  foundation  for  a  Jewish 
city,  with  its  imposing  rites  and  formula,  its  regal 


44  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

pomp  and  Jewish  ceremony  in  a  Christian  Epis- 
copal church,  with  the  aid  of  its  authorized  rector, 
may  strike  the  present  generation  with  surprise, 
a   word   or   two   may   be    said   of   the   transaction. 

"The  Rev.  Mr.  Searle  was,  at  that  time,  the 
officiating  clergyman  in  the  little  church  of  St. 
Paul's,  in  the  village  of  Buffalo,  and  had  been 
placed  there  as  a  missionary  by  the  late  wise  and 
excellent  Bishop  Hobart.  He  held  a  government 
commission  as  chaplain  of  the  United  States,  and 
had  been  granted  some  years  furlough  from  active 
duty.  He  had  been  on  foreign  cruises, — had 
coasted  the  Mediterranean  and  spent  months  in 
the  chief  cities  of  its  classic  shores,  and  visited  the 
beautiful  Greek  Island  of  Scios,  a  few  weeks  after 
the  burning  of  its  towns  and  the  massacre  of 
its  people  by  the  Turks,  in  1822.  He  was  an  ac- 
complished and  genial  man,  of  commanding  per- 
son, and  portly  mien;  his  manners  were  bland 
and  his  address  courtly.  Whether  he  had  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Major  Noah  abroad  or  in  New 
York,  or  whether  he  first  met  him  on  this  oc- 
casion at  Buffalo,  I  know  not,  but  their  inter- 
course here  was  cordial  and  friendly. 

"On  the  second  day  of  September,  1825,  the  im- 
posing ceremony  of  laying  the  cornerstone  of  the 
city  of  Ararat,  to  be  built  on  Grand  Island,  took 
place,  and  as  a  full  account  of  the  doings  of  the 
day,  written  by  Major  Noah  himself,  was  pub- 
lished at  the  time  in  the  "Buffalo  Patriot  Extra", 
I  take  the  liberty  of  repeating  them  from  that 
paper: 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  45 

"It  was  known,  at  the  sale  of  that  beautiful  and 
valuable  tract  called  Grand  Island,  a  few  miles 
below  this  port  (Buffalo),  in  the  Niagara  river, 
that  it  was  purchased,  in  part,  by  the  friends  of 
Major  Noah,  of  New  York,  avowedly  to  offer  it 
as  an  asylum  for  his  brethren  of  the  Jewish  per- 
suasion, who,  in  the  other  parts  of  the  world,  are 
much  oppressed,  and  it  was  likewise  known  that 
it  was  intended  to  erect  upon  the  island  a  city 
called  Ararat.  We  are  gratified  to  perceive,  by 
the  documents  in  this  day's  "Extra"  that,  coupled 
with  this  colonization  is  a  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  the  revival  of  the  Jewish  govern- 
ment under  the  protection  of  the  United  States, 
after  the  dispersion  of  that  ancient  and  wealthy 
people  for  nearly  two  thousand  years — and  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Noah  as  first  judge.  It  was 
intended,  pursuant  to  the  public  notice,  to  cele- 
brate the  event  on  the  island,  and  a  flagstaff  was 
erected  for  the  Grand  Standard  of  Israel,  and 
other  arrangements  made;  but  it  was  discovered 
that  a  sufficient  number  of  boats  could  not  be  pro- 
cured in  time  to  convey  all  those  to  the  island  who 
were  desirous  of  witnessing  the  ceremony,  and 
the  celebration  took  place  this  day  in  the  village, 
which  was  both  interesting  and  impressive.  At 
dawn  of  day,  a  salute  was  fired  in  front  of  the 
Court  House,  and  from  the  terrace  facing  the 
lake. 

"At  ten  o'clock  the  masonic  and  military  compa- 
nies assembled  in  front  of  the  Lodge,  and  at  eleven, 
the  line  of  procession  was  formed  as  follows : 


46  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

ORDER  OF  PROCESSION 

Grand  Marshall,  Col.  Potter,  on  horseback. 

MUSIC 

MILITARY 

CITIZENS 

CIVIL  OFFICERS 

STATE  OFFICERS  IN  UNIFORM 

PRESIDENT   AND   TRUSTEES   OF   THE 

CORPORATION 

TYLER 

STEWARDS 

ENTERED  APPRENTICES 

FELLOW   CRAFTS 

MASTER   MASONS 

SENIOR  AND  JUNIOR  DEACONS 

SECRETARY  AND   TREASURER 

SENIOR  AND  JUNIOR  WARDENS 

MASTER   OF   LODGES 

PAST    MASTERS 

REV.    CLERGY 

STEWARDS,  with  corn,  wine  and  oil 

PRINCIPAL  ARCHITECT 

with  square  level,  and  plumb. 

Bible. 

GLOBE  GLOBE 

Square  and  Compass,  borne  by  a  Master  Mason. 

THE  JUDGE  OF  ISRAEL 

In    black,    wearing    the    judicial    robes    of    crimson    silk, 

trimmed    with    ermine,    and    a    richly    embossed    golden 

medal  suspended  from  the  neck. 

A   MASTER   MASON 

ROYAL  ARCH  MASONS 

KNIGHTS  TEMPLAR 


\ 

MC  RDECAI  M.  NOAH  47 

"On  arriving  at  the  church  door,  the  troops 
opened  to  the  right  and  left  and  the  procession 
entered  the  aisles,  the  band  playing  the  Grand 
March  from  Judas  Maccabeus.  The  full-toned 
organ  commenced  its  swelling  notes,  performing 
the  Jubilate.  On  the  communion  table  lay  the 
corner  stone,  with  the  following  inscription  (the 
Hebrew  is  from  Deut.,  vi.  4)  : 

ARARAT 
A  CITY  OF  REFUGE  FOR  THE  JEWS 

Founded  by  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah,  in  the  month 

of  Tizri,  September  1825,  in  the  50th  year  of 

American   Independence. 

"On  the  stone  lay  the  silver  cups  with  wine, 
corn   and   oil. 

"The  ceremonies  commenced  by  the  Morning 
Service,  read  emphatically  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Searle 
of  the  Episcopal  church.  "Before  Jehovah's  Awful 
Throne"  was  sung  by  the  choir  to  the  tune  of 
Old  Hundred — Morning  Prayer — First  lesson  from 
Jeremiah, — Second  lesson,  Zeph.  iiiS — Psalms  for 
the  occasion  xcvii,  xcviii,  xcix,  Ps.  cxxvii  in  verse 
— Ante  Communion  Service — Psalm  in  Hebrew — 
Benediction. 

"Mr.  Noah  arose  and  pronounced  a  discourse,  or 
rather  delivered  a  speech,  announcing  the  re- 
organization of  the  Jewish  government,  and  going 
through  a  detail  of  many  points  of  intense  interest, 
to  which  a  crowded  auditory  listened  with  pro- 
found attention. 


48  MORDECAI  M.  NO.   H 

"At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies  the  pro- 
cession returned  to  the  Lodge,  and  the  Masonic 
brethren  and  the  military  repaired  to  the  Eagle 
Tavern  and  partook  of  refreshments.  The  church 
was  filled  with  ladies,  and  the  whole  ceremony 
was  impressive  and  unique.  A  grand  salute  of 
twenty-four  guns  was  fired  by  the  artillery,  and 
the  band  played  a  number  of  patriotic  airs. 

"We  learn  that  a  vast  concourse  assembled  at 
Tonawanda,  expecting  that  the  ceremonies  would 
be  at  Grand  Island.  Many  of  them  came  up  in 
carriages  in  time  to  hear  the  Inaugural  speech. 
The  following  is  the  Proclamation,  which  will  be 
read  with  great  attention  and  interest.  A  finer 
day  and  more  general  satisfaction  has  not  been 
known  on  any  similar  occasion. 

PROCLAMATION   TO   THE   JEWS 

^'Whereas,  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to 
manifest  to  his  chosen  people  the  approach  of 
that  period  when,  in  fulfillment  of  the  promises 
made  to  the  race  of  Jacob,  and  as  a  reward  for 
their  pious  constancy  and  triumphant  fidelity, 
they  are  to  be  gathered  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe,  and  to  resume  their  rank  and  character 
among  the  governments  of  the   earth ; 

''And  Whereas,  the  peace  which  now  prevails 
among  civilized  nations,  the  progress  of  learning 
throughout  the  world,  and  the  general  spirit  of 
liberality  and  toleration  which  exists  together 
with  other  changes  favorable  to  light  and  to 
liberty,  mark  in  an  especial  manner  the  approach 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  49 

of  that  time,  when  ''peace  on  earth  good  will  to 
man"  are  to  prevail  with  a  benign  and  extended 
influence,  and  the  ancient  people  of  God,  the 
first  to  proclaim  his  unity  and  omnipotence,  are  to 
be  restored  to  their  inheritance,  and  enjoy  the 
rights  of  a  sovereign  independent   people; 

''Therefore,  I,  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah,  citizen 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  late  Consul  of 
said  States  to  the  City  and  Kingdom  of  Tunis, 
High  Sheriff  of  New  York,  Counsellor  at  Law, 
and  by  the  grace  of  God,  Governor  and  Judge  of 
Israel,  have  issued  this  my  Proclamation,  an- 
nouncing to  the  Jews  throughout  the  Avorld,  that 
an  asylum  is  prepared  and  hereby  offered  to  them, 
where  they  can  enjoy  that  peace,  comfort  and 
happiness  which  have  been  denied  them  through 
the  intolerance  and  misgovernment  of  former 
ages ;  an  asylum  in  a  free  and  powerful  country 
remarkable  for  its  vast  resources,  the  richness  of 
its  soil,  and  the  salubrity  of  its  climate;  where 
industry  is  encouraged,  education  promoted,  and 
good  faith  rewarded,  'a  land  of  milk  and  honey', 
where  Israel  may  repose  in  peace,  under  his 
"vine  and  fig-tree",  and  where  our  people  may  so 
familiarize  themselves  with  the  science  of  govern- 
ment and  the  lights  of  learning  and  civilization, 
as  may  qualify  them  for  that  great  and  final  res- 
toration to  their  ancient  heritage,  which  the 
times  so  powerfully  indicate. 

"The  asylum  referred  to  is  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  the  greatest  State  in  the  American 
confederacy.       New     York     contains     forty-three 


50  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

thousand,  two  hundred  and  fourteen  square  miles, 
divided  into  fifty-five  counties,  and  having  six 
thousand  and  eighty-seven  post  towns  and  cities, 
containing  one  million,  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, together  with  six  million  acres  of  cul- 
tivated land,  improvements  in  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  in  trade  and  commerce,  which  in- 
clude a  valuation  of  three  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  of  taxable  property ;  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  militia,  armed  and  equipped ;  a  con- 
stitution founded  upon  an  equality  of  rights,  hav- 
ing no  test-oaths,  and  recognizing  no  religious 
distinctions,  and  seven  thousand  free  schools  and 
colleges,  affording  the  blessings  of  education  to 
four  hundred  thousand  children.  Such  is  the 
great  and  increasing  State  to  which  the  emigra- 
tion of  the  Jews  is  directed. 

"The  desired  spot  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
to  which  I  hereby  invite  my  beloved  people 
throughout  the  world,  in  common  with  those  of 
every  religious  denomination,  is  called  Grand 
Island,  and  on  which  I  shall  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  City  of  Refuge,  to  be  called  Ararat. 

"Grand  Island  in  the  Niagara  river  is  bounded 
by  Ontario  on  the  north,  and  Erie  on  the  south, 
and  within  a  few  miles  of  each  of  these  great 
commercial  lakes.  The  island  is  nearly  twelve 
miles  in  length,  and  varying  from  three  to  seven 
miles  in  breadth,  and  contains  upwards  of  seven- 
teen thousand  acres  of  remarkably  rich  and  fertile 
land.  Lake  Erie  is  about  two  hundred  and 
seventy  miles  in  length,  and  borders  on  the  States 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  51 

of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio ;  and  west- 
wardly,  by  the  possessions  of  our  friends  and 
neighbors,  the  British  subjects  of  Upper  Canada. 
This  splendid  lake  unites  itself  by  means  of 
navigable  rivers,  with  lakes  St.  Clair,  Huron, 
Michigan  and  Superior,  embracing  a  lake  shore 
of  nearly  three  thousand  miles;  and  by  short 
canals  those  vast  sheets  of  water  will  be  con- 
nected with  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers, 
thereby  establishing  a  great  and  valuable  internal 
trade  to  New  Orleans  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Lake  Ontario,  on  the  north,  is  one  hundred  and 
ninety  miles  in  length,  and  empties  into  the  St. 
Lawrence,  which,  passing  through  the  Province 
of  Lower  Canada,  carries  the  commerce  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

"Thus  fortified  to  the  right  and  left  by  the 
extensive  commercial  resources  of  the  Great  Lakes 
and  their  tributary  streams,  within  four  miles  of 
the  subHme  Falls  of  Niagara,  affording  the  great- 
est water-power  in  the  world  for  manufacturing 
purposes, — directly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Grand  Island  Canal  of  three  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  inland  navigation  to  the  Hudson  river  and 
city  of  New  York, — having  the  fur  trade  of  Upper 
Canada  to  the  west,  and  also  of  the  great  terri- 
tories towards  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean;  likewise  the  trade  of  the  Western 
States  of  America, — Grand  Island  may  be  con- 
sidered as  surrounded  by  every  commercial, 
manufacturing  and  agricultural  advantage,  and 
from    its    location    is    pre-eminently    calculated    to 


52  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

become,  in  time,  the  greatest  trading  and  com- 
mercial depot  in  the  new  and  better  world.  To 
men  of  worth  and  industry  it  has  every  substan- 
tial attraction ;  the  capitalist  will  be  enabled  to 
enjoy  his  resources  with  undoubted  profit,  and  the 
merchant  cannot  fail  to  reap  the  reward  of  enter- 
prise in  a  great  and  growing  republic;  but  to  the 
industrious  mechanic,  manufacturer  and  agricul- 
turist it  holds  forth  great  and  improving  advan- 
tages. 

''Deprived,  as  our  people  have  been  for  centu- 
ries of  a  right  in  the  soil,  they  will  learn,  with 
peculiar  satisfaction,  that  here  they  can  till  the 
soil,  reap  the  harvest,  and  raise  the  flocks  which 
are  unquestionably  their  own ;  and,  in  the  full  and 
unmolested  enjoyment  of  their  religious  rights, 
and  of  every  civil  immunity,  together  with  peace 
and  plenty,  they  can  lift  up  their  voice  in  grati- 
tude to  Him  who  sustained  our  fathers  in  the 
wilderness,  and  brought  us  in  triumph  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt;  who  assigned  to  us  the  safe-keep- 
ing of  his  oracles,  who  proclaimed  us  his  people, 
and  who  has  ever  walked  before  us  like  a  "Cloud 
by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night". 

"In  His  name  do  I  revive,  renew  and  re- 
establish the  government  of  the  Jewish  Nation, 
under  the  auspices  and  protection  of  the  consti- 
tution and  laws  of  the  United  States  of  America; 
confirming  and  perpetuating  all  our  rights  and 
privileges, — our  name,  our  rank,  and  our  power 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth, — as  they  existed 
and  were  recognized  under  the  government  of  the 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  53 

Judges.  And  I  hereby  enjoin  it  upon  all  our 
pious  and  venerable  Rabbis,  our  Presidents  and 
Elders  of  Synagogues,  Chiefs  of  Colleges  and 
brethren  in  authority  throughout  the  world,  to 
circulate  and  make  known  this,  my  Proclamation, 
and  give  it  full  publicity,  credence  and  effect. 

"It  is  my  will  that  a  census  of  the  Jews  | 
throughout  the  world  be  taken,  and  returns  of 
persons,  together  with  their  age  and  occupations  { 
to  be  registered  in  the  archives  of  the  Synagogues 
where  they  are  accustomed  to  worship,  designat- 
ing such,  in  particular,  as  have  been  and  are  dis- 
tinguished in  the  useful  arts,  in  science  or  in 
knowledge. 

"Those  of  our  people  who,  from  age,  local  at- 
tachment, or  from  any  other  cause,  prefer  remain- 
ing in  the  several  parts  of  the  world  which  they 
now  respectively  inhabit,  and  who  are  treated 
with  liberality  by  the  public  authorities,  are  per- 
mitted to  do  so,  and  are  specially  recommended 
to  be  faithful  to  the  governments  which  protect 
them.  It  is,  however,  expected  that  they  will  aid 
and  encourage  the  emigration  of  the  young  and 
enterprising,  and  endeavor  to  send  to  this  country 
such  as  will  add  to  our  national  strength  and 
character,  by  their  industry,  honor  and  patriot- 
ism. 

"Those  Jews  who  are  in  the  military  employ- 
ment of  the  diflferent  sovereigns  of  Europe  are 
enjoined  to  keep  in  their  ranks  until  further 
orders,  and  conduct  themselves  with  bravery  and 
fidelity. 


54  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

"1  command  that  a  strict  neutrality  be  ob- 
served in  the  pending  wars  between  the  Greeks 
and  the  Turks,  enjoined  by  considerations  of 
safety  towards  a  numerous  population  of  Jews 
now  under  the  oppressive  dominion  of  the  Otto- 
man Porte. 

"The  annual  gifts  which,  for  many  centuries, 
have  been  afforded  to  our  pious  brethren  in  our 
holy  City  of  Jerusalem  (to  which  may  God 
speedily  restore  us)  are  to  continue  with  unabated 
liberality;  our  seminaries  of  learning  and  institu- 
tions of  charity  in  every  part  of  the  world  are  to 
be  increased,  in  order  that  wisdom  and  virtue  may 
permanently    prevail    among    the    chosen    people. 

*T  abolish  forever  polygamy  among  the  Jews, 
which,  without  religious  warrant,  still  exists  in 
Asia,  and  Africa.  I  shall  prohibit  marriages  or 
giving  Kedushin  without  both  parties  are  of  a 
suitable  age,  and  can  read  and  write  the  language 
of  the  country  which  they  respectively  inhabit, 
and  which  I  trust  will  ensure  for  their  offspring 
the  blessings  of  education  and  probably,  the  lights 
of  science. 

"Prayers  shall  forever  be  said  in  the  Hebrew 
language,  but  it  is  recommended  that  occasional 
discourses  on  the  principles  of  the  Jewish  faith 
and  the  doctrines  of  morality  generally,  be  de- 
livered in  the  language  of  the  country;  together 
with  such  reforms,  which,  without  departing  from 
the  ancient  faith,  may  add  greater  solemnity  to 
our   worship. 

"The  Caraite  and  Samaritan  Jews,  together  with 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  55 

the  black  Jews  of  India  and  Africa,  and  likewise  \ 
those  in  Cochin,  China  and  the  sect  on  the  coast 
of  Malabar,  are  entitled  to  an  equality  of  rights 
and  religious  privileges,  as  are  all  who  may  par- 
take of  the  great  covenant  and  obey  and  respect 
the  Mosaical  laws. 

"The  Indians  of  the  American  continent,  in 
their  admitted  Asiatic  origin — in  their  worship 
of  God, — in  their  dialect  and  language, — in  their 
sacrifices,  marriages,  divorces,  burials,  fastings, 
purifications,  punishments,  cities  of  refuge,  divi- 
sions of  tribes, — in  their  High  Priests, — in  their 
wars  and  in  their  victories,  being  in  all  probabili- 
ty, the  descendants  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel, 
which  were  carried  captive  by  the  King  of  Assyria, 
measures  will  be  adopted  to  make  them  sensible 
of  their  condition  and  finally  re-unite  them  with 
their   brethren,   the   chosen   people.  . 

"A  capitation  tax  of  three  shekels  in  silver,  per  ' 
annum,  or  one  Spanish  dollar,  is  hereby  levied 
upon  each  Jew  throughout  the  world,  to  be  col- 
lected by  the  Treasurer  of  the  diflferent  congre- 
gations for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  various 
expenses  of  re-organizing  the  government,  of  aid- 
ing emigrants  in  the  purchase  of  agricultural  im- 
plements, providing  for  their  immediate  wants 
and  comforts,  and  assisting  their  families  in  mak- 
ing their  first  settlements,  together  with  such 
free-will  offerings  as  may  be  generally  made  in 
the  furtherance  of  the  laudable  objects  connected 
with  the  restoration  of  the  people  and  the  glory 
of  the  Jewish  nation.     A  judge  of  Israel  shall  be 


56  MORDECAI  M.  XOAH 

chosen  once  in  every  four  years  by  the  Consistory 
at  Paris,  at  which  time  proxies  from  every  congre- 
gation shall  be  received. 

"I  do  hereby  name  as  Commissioners,  the  most 
learned  and  pious  Abraham  de  Cologna,  Knight 
of  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  Grand  Rabbi  of 
the  Jews  and  President  of  the  Consistory  at  Paris ; 
likewise  the  Grand  Rabbi  Andrade  of  Bordeaux ; 
and  also  our  learned  and  esteemed  Grand  Rabbis 
of  the  German  and  Portugal  Jews,  in  London, 
Rabbis  Herschell  and  Meldola;  together  with  the 
Honorable  Aaron  Nunez  Cordoza,  of  Gibraltar, 
Abraham  Busnac,  of  Leghorn,  Benjamin  Gradis 
of  Bordeaux :  Dr.  E.  Gans  and  Professor  Zunz  of 
Berlin,  and  Dr.  Leo  Woolf  of  Hamburg  to  aid 
and  assist  in  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions 
of  this  my  Proclamation,  with  powers  to  appoint 
the  necessar}-  agents  in  the  several  parts  of  the 
world,  and  to  establish  emigration  societies,  in 
order  that  the  Jews  may  be  concentrated  and 
capacitated  to  act  as  a  distinct  body,  having  at  the 
head  of  each  kingdom  or  republic  such  presiding 
officers  as  I  shall  upon  their  recommendation  ap- 
point. Instructions  to  these,  my  commissioners, 
shall  be  forthwith  transmitted ;  and  a  more  en- 
larged and  general  view  of  plan,  motives  and  ob- 
jects will  be  detailed  in  the  address  to  the  nation. 
The  Consistory  at  Paris  is  hereby  authorized  and 
empowered  to  name  three  discreet  persons  of  com- 
petent abilities,  to  visit  the  United  States,  and 
make  such  reports  to  the  nation  as  the  actual  con- 
dition of  this  country   shall  warrant. 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  57 

*'I  do  appoint  Roshhodesh  Adar,  February  7th, 
1826,  to  be  observed  with  suitable  demonstrations 
as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel  for  the  manifold  blessings  and  signal  pro- 
tection which  he  has  deigned  to  extend  to  his 
people,  and  in  order,  that,  on  that  great  occasion 
our  prayers  may  be  ottered  for  the  continuance 
of  His  divine  mercy  and  the  fulfillment  of  all  the 
promises  and  pledges  made  to  the  race  of  Jacob. 

'*I  recommend  peace  and  union  among  us; 
charity  and  good-will  to  all ;  toleration  and 
liberality  to  our  brethren  of  every  religious  de- 
nomination, enjoined  by  the  mild  and  just  pre- 
cepts of  our  holy  religion ;  honor  and  good  faith  in 
the  fulfillment  of  all  our  contracts,  together  w^ith 
temperance,  economy,  and  industry  in  our  habits. 

*'I  humbly  entreat  to  be  remembered  in  your 
prayers ;  and  lastly  and  most  earnestly  I  do  enjoin 
you  to  'keep  the  charge  of  the  Holy  God',  to  walk 
His  ways,  to  keep  His  statutes,  and  His  com- 
mandments, and  His  judgments,  and  His  testi- 
monies, as  it  is  written  in  the  laws  of  Moses — 
"That  thou  mayest  prosper  in  all  thou  doest,  and 
whithersoever   thou   turnest   thyself." 

"Given  at  Bufitalo,  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
this  second  day  Tishri,  in  the  year  of  the  world 
5586,  corresponding  with  the  fifteenth  day  of 
September,  1825,  and  in  the  fiftieth  year  of 
American  independence. 

"By  the  Judge, 
"A.  B.  Seixas,  Secretary^  Pro  tem." 


58  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

"The  day  succeeding  the  ceremonies — the  "corn 
and  wine  and  oil'',  and  "the  Proclamation" — the 
newly  constituted  Judge  in  Israel  issued  another 
address  (also  printed  in  the  Buffalo  Patriot 
Extra),  setting  forth  the  design  of  the  new  city, 
and  invoking  the  aid  and  countenance  of  his 
brethren  abroad  in  contributing  of  their  substance 
and  influence  to  its  uprising  and  population. 
Thus,  with  due  benediction,  ended  the  ceremonial 
— the  first  of  its  kind  known  in  this  country — of 
the  corner-stone  of  an  anticipated  Hebrew,  or 
any  other  city,  being  laid  on  the  communion  table 
of  a  Christian  church! 

"The  ceremonial,  with  its  procession,  "Masonic 
and  Military",  its  pomp  and  magnificence,  passed 
away.  Major  Noah,  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  de- 
parted for  his  home  in  New  York;  the  "corner- 
stone" was  taken  from  the  audience-chamber  of 
the  church,  and  deposited  against  its  rear  wall, 
outside;  and  the  great  prospective  City  of  Ararat, 
with  its  splendid  predictions  and  promises, 
vanished,  "and,  like  an  unsubstantial  pageant 
/faded — left  not  a  rock  behind". 
I  "This  was  in  fact,  the  whole  affair.  The  for- 
eign Rabbis  denounced  Noah  and  his  entire 
scheme.  He  had  levied  taxes  of  sundry  "shekels' 
on  all  the  Jewish  tribes  of  the  world,  assumed 
supreme  jurisdiction  over  their  emigration  to 
America,  and  sought  to  control  their  destinies 
afterwards.  But,  having  no  confidence  in  his 
plans  or  financial  management,  the  American  Jews 
even    repudiated     his    proceedings ;    and,    after    a 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  59 

storm  of  ridicule  heaped  on  his  presumptious 
head,  the  whole  thing-  died  away,  and  passed 
among  the  other  thousand-and-one  absurdities  of 
other  character  which  had  preceded  it.  Noah, 
however,  with  his  ever-ready  wit  and  newspaper 
at  hand,  replied  to  all  the  jeers  and  flings  in  good 
humor,  and  lost  none  of  the  prestige  of  his  char- 
acter and  position,  either  politically  or  morally. 
He  was  known  to  be  eccentric  in  many  things, 
and  this  was  put  down  as  the  climax  of  his  eccen- 
tricities. Poor  in  money  always,  he  had  no  in- 
fluence in  financial  circles,  yet  he  was  a  "power" 
in  the  State.  Some  years  after  his  Ararat  affair, 
he  held  the  oflice  of  Judge  in  one  of  the  criminal 
city  courts  of  New  York,  with  decided  acceptance 
to  the  public — married  a  wealthy  Jewess  of  high 
respectability — reared  a  family,  and  died  some  ten 
or  a  dozen  years  ago  in  New  York,  lamented  by 
those  who  knew  him,  as  a  kind  and  generous 
man. 

"The  subsequent  history  of  the  corner-stone 
which  we  have  described,  is  imperfectly  known. 
It  is  generally  supposed,  by  those  who  have  heard 
of  the  matter  at  all,  that  Ararat  was  actually 
founded  on  Grand  Island,  opposite  Tonawanda; 
and  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  accounts  were 
frequently  published  by  tourists  and  in  the  news- 
papers, that  the  stone  aforesaid  stood,  encased  in 
a  monument,  on  the  actual  spot  selected  by  Noah 
for  the  building  of  his  city.  That  the  stone  did 
so  stand  in  a  brick  monument  at  Grand  Island, 
opposite  Tonawanda,  but  not  on  the  site  of  any 


60  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

city,  past  or  present,  is  a  fact,  and  it  came  about 
in  this  wise : 

"In  the  summer  of  the  year  1827,  having  be- 
come a  resident  of  Buffalo  in  April  of  that  year,  I 
saw  the  stone  leaning  against  the  rear  under- 
pinning of  the  little  church  of  St.  Paul,  next  to 
Pearl  Street.  It  had  stood  there  from  the  time  it 
was  removed  at  its  consecration  in  1825.  When 
it  was  removed  from  the  wall  of  the  church  I  can- 
not say.  In  the  year  1833,  I  made  a  purchase  of 
Messrs.  Samuel  Leggett,  of  New  York,  Yates  and 
Mclntyre,  of  Albany,  and  Peter  Smith,  of 
Schenectady,  and  a  few  other  parties,  on  behalf 
of  a  company  of  gentlemen  in  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, with  whom  I  had  an  interest,  of  the  lands 
they  held  on  Grand  Island,  amounting  in  all  to 
about  sixteen  thousand  acres.  The  average  price 
paid  for  it  was  a  little  more  than  five  dollars  per 
acre.  The  principal  object  of  the  purchase  was 
the  valuable  white-oak  ship-timber  abounding 
there,  which  it  was  intended  to  cut  and  convey 
to  the  Boston  ship-yards. 

"A  clearing  and  settlement  was  made  on  the 
island,  opposite  Tonawanda.  Several  houses  were 
built,  and  a  steam-mill  for  sawing  the  timber 
into  planks,  erected.  A  few  months  after  the  pur- 
chase, the  year  1834,  being  one  day  at  the  house  of 
General  Peter  B.  Porter,  at  Black  Rock,  I  saw 
Major  Noah's  corner-stone  lying  in  his  lawn  near 
the  river-front  of  his  dwelling.  In  answer  to  my 
question,  how  it  came  there,  he  said,  that  being  in 
New   York   some   few  years   previous,    and   meet- 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  61 

ing  Major  Noah,  with  whom  he  had  been  long 
acquainted,  he  told  him  that  his  corner-stone  of 
Ararat  was  standing  behind  St.  Paul's  church  in 
Buffalo.  Noah  then  requested  him  to  take  care 
of  it,  and  place  it  in  some  secure  spot,  as  he 
wished  to  have  it  preserved  where  it  would  not 
excite  comment,  for  he  had  heard  quite  enough 
about  it.  In  compliance  with  the  request.  General 
Porter  took  the  stone,  and  placed  it  in  his  own 
grounds.  Taking  a  fancy  to  the  stone,  I  asked 
General  Porter  to  give  it  to  me,  assuring  him  that 
I  would  take  it  to  Grand  Island,  and  give  it  an 
honorable  position.  He  complied  with  my  re- 
quest, and  I  removed  it  to  the  new  settlement 
on  the  island.  A  decent  architectural  structure 
of  brick  was  erected,  standing  about  fourteen  feet 
high  and  six  feet  square.  A  niche  was  made  in 
the  front,  facing  the  river,  in  which  the  stone 
was  placed,  and  a  comely  roof  as  a  top  finish,  put 
over  it.  A  steam  passenger-boat  was  running  for 
several  years  daily,  through  the  summer,  between 
Buffalo  and  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  touching  each 
way  at  Whitehaven,  the  little  Grand  Island  settle- 
ment, and  many  people  went  to  shore  to  see  the 
monument,  which  told  a  false  history.  Artists 
and  tourists  sketched  the  homely  little  structure, 
and  copied  the  inscription  on  the  stone,  and  the 
next  year  a  "Guide  Book  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara" 
issued  in  Buffalo,  by  a  young  man  named  Ferris, 
I  believe,  had  the  monument,  with  the  "Corner- 
stone of  the  Jewish  City  of  Ararat"  well  engraved 
and  described,  conspicuous  in  its  pages.     That,  of 


62  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

course,  was  sufficient  authority  for  the  belief  that 
the  city  of  Ararat  was  founded  on  that  spot  by 
Mordecai  Manuel   Noah. 

"The  mill  was  taken  down  about  the  year  1850, 
and  the  monument  becoming  time-worn  and 
dilapidated,  was  taken  down  also.  We  had  no 
historical  society  in  Buffalo  then,  and  although  the 
stone  was  my  property,  I  had  become  careless  of 
its  possession,  and,  soon  afterwards,  Mr.  Wallace 
Baxter,  who  owned  a  farm  a  couple  of  miles  above 
Whithaven,  on  the  river  shore,  took  the  stone 
and  carried  it  to  his  place.  By  this  removal,  the 
farm  of  Baxter — taking  the  stone  as  authority — 
became  as  much  the  site  of  Ararat  as  White- 
haven had  been.  In  the  year  1864,  the  late  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Waite,  of  this  City,  opened  a  water- 
ing place — "Sheenwater" — on  the  opposite,  or 
Canadian  side  of  the  island,  and  Mr.  Baxter 
carried  the  stone  over  there  for  the  delectation  of 
the  visitors  who  congregated  to  that  resort,  thus 
establishing  another  locality  of  the  renewed 
Ararat.  Mr.  Waite's  house  having  burned  a  few 
months  after  the  stone  was  removed  there,  he 
carefully  placed  it  in  an  outhouse  on  the  premises, 
where  it  remained  until  the  last  summer,  when  I 
obtained  his  leave  to  take  it  again  in  my  posses- 
sion, which  I  did,  and  deposited  it  on  my  farm 
at  the  head  of  Grand  Island,  one  of  the  original 
tracts  of  land  which  Mr.  Leggett  had  purchased 
for  Major  Noah.  There,  too,  had  the  traveling 
public  seen  it,  might  have  been  located  another 
site    for   the    Hebrew    city.     A    short    time    after- 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  63 

wards  I  had  the  corner-stone  taken  to  my  prem- 
ises on  Niagara  street,  in  this  city;  the  same  to 
which  General  Porter  then  owning  them,  had 
removed  it,  previous  to  the  year  1834.  A  few- 
weeks  later  it  was  again — and,  I  trust,  finally — 
removed,  and  on  the  second  day  of  January,  in 
the  year  1866,  deposited  in  the  official  room  of 
the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  where  it  is  duly 
honored  w^ith  a  conspicuous  position  against  its 
eastern  wall,  leaving  the  Hebrew  "City  of  Ararat", 
a  myth — never  having  existence,  save  in  the 
prurient  imagination  of  its  projector,  a  record  of 
which    the    table    bears. 

"Like  the  dove  which  went  out  from  the  Ark 
of  his  great  patriarchal  progenitor,  the  stone  of 
the  latter  has  come  back  to  its  domicile,  not 
in  the  Ark,  but  to  the  city  which,  in  its  embryo 
existence,  first  gave  it  shelter  and  protection,  and, 
we  trust, — unlike  the  dove, — to  again  go  out  no 
more.  Just  forty  years  from  its  exodus  from  the 
communion-table  of  the  church  of  St.  Paul,  like 
the  children  of  ancient  Israel,  has  this  eventful 
stone — meantime  crossing,  not  the  parted  waters 
of  the  Red  Sea,  but  the  transparent  waters  of  the 
Niagara,  resting  by  the  wayside,  and  traveling 
through  the  wilderness  in  circuitous  wanderings — 
found  its  home  in  the  rooms  of  the  Buffalo 
Historical   Society. 

"Thus  ends  the  strange,  eventful  history  of 
Major  Noah,  his  Hebrew  city  and  its  corner- 
stone. Although  that  portion  of  the  public,  away 
from    Buffalo,    who    ever    heard    anything    of    this 


64  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

modern  Ararat,  have  believed,  since  the  year  1825, 
that  Major  Noah  actually  purchased  Grand  Island, 
and  founded  his  city,  and  laid  his  corner-stone 
upon  it,  the  fact  is,  that  he  never  owned  an  acre 
of  its  land,  nor  founded  the  city,  nor  laid  a 
corner-stone  there.  Nor  have  I  been  able,  after 
diligent  inquiry,  to  ascertain  that  he  ever  set  foot 
on  the  island.  I  have  heard  sundry  traditions, 
lately,  of  his  going  there  at  the  time  he  visited 
Buffalo  in  the  year  1825.  All  these  w^ere  con- 
tradictory, and  partially  guess-work;  no  one,  so 
far  as  I  have  ascertained,  ever  saw  him  there. 
Thus  that  point  may  be  considered  as  definitely 
settled." 

There  was  some  foreign  comment  on  Noah's 
Ararat  plan  which  should  be  noted.  Heinrich 
Heine  mentioned  the  self-appointed  Messiah  as  a 
butt  for  humorous  reference  in  his  correspond- 
ence with  his  friend  Moses  Moser.  It  is  not 
strange  that  Heine  should  have  written  on  the 
subject  to  Moser,  who  was  his  most  intimate 
friend  until  1830,  and  as  Noah  had  been 
elected  a  member  of  the  Verein  fiir  Kiiltur  nnd 
Wissenschaft  des  Judentnms,  of  which  Dr.  Zunz 
and  Professor  Gans  were,  together  with  Moser, 
the  founders.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Gans 
and  Zunz  had  been  named  by  Noah  as  two  of 
the  commissioners  for  Germany,  the  other  being 
Dr.  Leo  Woolf  of  Hamburg,  who  were  to  assist 
in  carrying  into  effect  the  Proclamation.  In  a 
letter  from  Heine  to  Moser  under  date  of  March 
23rd,    1826,   we   read,   *'I   dreamed,   too,   that   Gans 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  65 

and  Mordecai  Noah  met  in  Strahlau  and  that 
Gans,  strange  to  say,  was  as  silent  as  a  fish. 
Zunz  stood  nearby  smiling  sarcastically,  and  said 
to  his  wife,  'Do  you  see,  my  mousie,  I  believe 
that  Lehman'  (Joseph  Lehmann,  the  German 
journalist)  'delivered  a  long  speech'  (apparently 
in  reference  to  Noah)  'in  a  grandiose  tone,  and 
adorned  with  expressions  such  as  "enlighten- 
ment", "change  of  circumstances",  and  "the  prog- 
ress of  the  Weltgeist,"  a  long  speech,  during 
which  I  did  not  fall  asleep,  but  on  the  contrary, 
awoke.'  "  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  favorable 
comment  had  been  expressed  abroad  at  all.  Abra- 
ham de  Cologna,  Chief  Rabbi  of  Paris,  protested 
against  the  carrying  out  of  the  project;  Judah 
Jeitteles  advised  the  Jews  of  Austria  against  immi- 
gration and  ridiculed  the  undertaking. 

Noah's  fervor  for  the  actual  settlement  of  dis- 
persed Jews  was  somewhat  dampened  by  the 
failure  of  his  Ararat  project;  but  the  idea  never 
left  his  mind.  From  this  time  on,  we  find  it  con- 
stantly occupying  a  prominent  part  of  important 
addresses  delivered  by  him.  Despite  the  fact 
that  he  considered  the  settlement  of  Ararat  as  the 
solution  of  the  Jewish  problem,  it  is  very  evident, 
from  several  hints  in  his  proclamation,  that  he 
considered  this  as  merely  a  preliminary  step  to 
the  final  re-establishment  of  the  Jewish  state  in 
Palestine.  It  is  only  natural,  therefore,  that  the 
Holy  Land  should  have  become  in  his  nationalist 
activity,  the  goal  of  his  desires.  One  of  the  most 
interesting    of    his    lectures    was    delivered    before 


66  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

the  Mercantile  Library  Association  in  New  York, 
in  the  year  1837,  on  *'The  Evidences  of  The 
American  Indians  being  the  Descendants  of  the 
Lost  Tribes  of  Israel".  The  discourse  is  signifi- 
cant, not  because  of  any  ethnological  value  that 
may  be  attached  to  it,  but  because  the  subject 
served  Noah  with  an  opportunity  to  express  his 
hope  for  the  consummation  of  Jewish  nationalist 
ideals.  After  laboriously  accumulating  a  mass  of 
material  by  which  he  endeavored  to  prove  the 
identity  of  the  Indians  as  the  Lost  Tribes,  Noah 
seemed  deliberately  to  have  forgotten  all  about 
this  point  at  the  end  of  his  discussion  and  con- 
cluded in  the  following  words : 

''Our  prophet  Isaiah  has  a  noble  reference  to 
the  dispersed  tribes  and  their  redemption,  which 
may  be  here  appropriately  quoted.  I  use  his 
language,  the  Hebrew,  which  from  its  peculiar 
associations  should  be  always  interesting  to  you." 
Here  Noah  quoted  in  Hebrew  from  Isaiah,  Cap. 
XI,  xi: 

iDy  n«tr  nw  m:p'7  n*"  rr'Jtr  •'n^  ^-'dt'  i^^nn  orn  n'^n^ 
trir>Di  DnnsDi  nn^^DJiDi  mi:*«D  ^i^^^  n^« 

and  translating,  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in 
that  day,  that  the  Lord  shall  set  his  hand  the 
second  time  to  recover  the  remnant  of  his  people, 
which  shall  be  left,  from  Assyria,  and  from  Egypt, 
and  from  Pathros,  and  from  Cush,  etc." 

''Possibly,  the  restoration  may  be  near  enough 
to  include  even  a  portion  of  these  interesting 
people  (the  Indians).  Our  learned  Rabbis  have 
always  deemed  it  sinful  to  compute  the  period  of 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  67 

the  restoration ;  they  believe  that  when  the  sins 
of  the  nation  were  atoned  for,  the  miracle  of  their 
redemption  would  be  manifested.  My  faith  does 
not  rest  wholly  in  miracles — Providence  disposes  i  ( 
of  events,  human  agency  must  carry  them  out. 
That  benign  and  supreme  power  which  the 
children  of  Israel  have  never  forsaken,  has  pro- 
tected the  chosen  people  amidst  the  most  ap- 
palling dangers,  has  saved  them  from  the  up- 
lifted sword  of  the  Egyptians,  the  Assyrians,  the 
Medes,  the  Persians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans, 
and  while  the  most  powerful  nations  of  antiquity 
have  crumbled  to  pieces,  we  have  been  preserved, 
united  and  unbroken,  the  same  now  as  we  were 
in  the  days  of  the  patriarchs — brought  from 
darkness  to  light,  from  the  early  and  rude  periods 
of  learning  to  the  bright  reality  of  civilization,  of 
arts,  of  education  and  of  science. 

"The  Jewish  people  must  now  do  something  I  I 
for  themselves ;  they  must  move  onward  to  the  ^ 
accomplishment  of  that  great  event  long  fore- 
told, long  promised — long  expected;  and  when 
they  do  move,  that  mighty  power  which  has  for 
thousands  of  years  rebuked  the  proscription  and 
intolerance  shown  to  the  Jews,  by  a  benign  pro- 
tection of  the  whole  nation,  will  still  cover  them 
with  his  invincible  standard. 

"My    belief    is    that    Syria    will    revert    to    the 
Jewish   nation   by   purchase,   and   that   the    facility  .. 
exhibited  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  has  been   \\ 
2l  providential  and  peculiar  gift  to  enable  them,  at 
a  proper  time,  to   re-occupy  their  ancient  posses- 


68  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

sions    by   the    purse-string   instead    of   the    sword. 

"We  live  in  a  remarkable  age,  and  political 
events  are  producing  extraordinary  changes 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"Russia,  with  its  gigantic  power,  continues  to 
press  hard  on  Turkey.  The  Pacha  of  Egypt,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  improvements  and  inven- 
tions of  men  of  genius,  is  extending  his  territory 
and  influence  to  the  straits  of  Babelmandel  on  the 
Red  Sea,  and  to  the  borders  of  the  Russian 
Empire;  and  the  combined  force  of  Russia,  Tur- 
key, Persia,  and  Egypt,  seriously  threaten  the 
safety  of  British  possessions  in  the  East  Indies. 
An  intermediate  and  balancing  power  is  required 
)  to  check  this  thirst  of  conquest  and  territorial  pos- 
session,, and  to  keep  in  check  the  advances  of 
Russia  and  Turkey  and  Persia,  and  the  ambition 
and  love  of  conquest  in  Egypt.  This  can  be  done  by 
restoring  Syria  to  its  rightful  owners,  not  by  revo- 
lution or  blood,  but  as  I  have  said,  by  the  pur- 
chase of  that  territory  from  the  Pacha  of  Egypt, 
for  a  sum  of  money  too  tempting  in  its  amount 
for  him  to  refuse,  in  the  present  reduced  state  of 
his  coffers.  Twelve  or  thirteen  millions  of  dol- 
lars have  been  spoken  of  in  reference  to  the 
cession  of  that  interesting  territory,  a  sum  of  no 
consideration  to  the  Jews,  for  the  good  will  and 
peaceable  possession  of  a  land,  which  to  them  is 
above  all  price.  Under  the  co-operation  and  pro- 
tection of  England  and  France,  this  re-occupation 
I  jof  Syria  within  its  old  territorial  limits,  is  at  once 
'reasonable  and  practicable. 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  69 

"By  opening  the  ports  of  Damascus,  Tripoli, 
Joppa,  Acre,  etc.,  the  whole  of  the  commerce  of 
Turkey,  Egypt  and  the  Mediterranean  will  be  in 
the  hands  of  those,  who  even  now  in  part,  control 
the  commerce  of  Europe.  From  the  Danube,  the 
Dniester,  the  Ukraine,  Wallachia  and  Moldavia, 
the  best  of  agriculturalists  would  revive  the 
former  fertility  of  Palestine.  Manufacturers  from 
Germany  and  Holland;  an  army  of  experience 
and  bravery  from  France  and  Italy;  ingenuity, 
intelligence,  activity,  energy  and  enterprise  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  under  a  just,  tolerant  and 
a  liberal  government,  present  a  formidable  barrier 
to  the  encroachments  of  surrounding  powers,  and 
be  a  bulwark  to  the  interests  of  England  and 
France,  as  well   as  the  rising  liberties  of  Greece. 

"Once  again  unfurl  the  standard  of  Judah  on 
Mount  Zion,  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  will 
give  up  the  chosen  people  as  the  sea  will  give  up 
its  dead,  at  the  sound  of  the  last  trumpet.  Let 
the  cry  be  Jerusalem,  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Saracen  and  the  lion-hearted  Richard  of  England, 
and  the  rags  and  wretchedness  which  have  for 
eighteen  centuries  enveloped  the  persons  of  the 
Jews,  crushed  as  they  were  by  persecution  and 
injustice,  will  fall  to  earth ;  and  they  will  stand 
forth,  the  richest,  the  most  powerful,  the  most  in- 
telligent nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  with 
incalculable  wealth,  and  holding  in  pledge  the 
crowns  and  sceptres  of  kings.  Placed  in  posses- 
sion of  their  ancient  heritage  by  and  with  the 
consent  and  co-operation  of  their  Christian  breth- 


I 


70  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

ren,  establishing  a  government  of  peace  and  good 
will  on  earth,  it  may  then  be  said,  behold  the 
fulfillment  of  prediction  and  prophecy;  behold 
the  chosen  and  favored  people  of  the  Almighty 
God,  who  in  defense  of  his  unity  and  omnipotence, 
have  been  the  outcast  and  proscribed  of  all  na- 
tions, and  who  for  thousands  of  years  have  pa- 
tiently endured  the  severest  of  human  sufferings, 
in  the  hope  of  that  great  advent  of  which  they 
never  have  despaired :  and  then  when  taking  their 
rank  once  more  among  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
with  the  good  wishes  and  affectionate  regards 
of  the  great  family  of  mankind,  they  may  by 
their  tolerance,  their  good  faith,  their  charity  and 
enlarged  liberal  views,  merit  what  has  been  said 
in  their  behalf  by  inspired  writers,  "Blessed  are 
they  who  bless   Israel." 

At  this  point,  it  may  be  noted,  as  an  instance 
of  his  keen  interest  in  things  Jewish,  that  in  1840, 
Noah,  together  with  Mr.  Alex  S.  Gould,  published 
a  translation  of  "The  Book  of  Jasher".  Edited 
by  Major  Noah,  he  did  not  pretend  that  the  work 
was  the  true  historical  chronicle,  but  merely  de- 
clared it  to  be  a  translation  of  a  very  ancient 
Hebrew  manuscript.  The  editor,  in  a  rather 
negative  way,  did  hazard  the  opinion,  however, 
that  it  might  have  been  the  book  referred  to  in 
Joshua  and  Second  Samuel.  The  publication 
excited  the  attention  of  a  number  of  eminent 
critics,  by  whom  it  was  unanimously  declared  to 
be  a  great  literary  curiosity,  meriting  attention  in 
many    respects.      The    book,    thus    published    in 


i 


DISCOURSE 


ox  Q{B 


■HESTORATION  OF  THE  JEWS: 


DBUVESBP  JT  TSB  TABEKNACLB,  OCT.  99  Atn  OBC  %  ISll 


BY   M.   M.   NOAH. 


Cartt^  a  SUip  of  l(e  JLjiRH  of  SststU 


HEW-YORK: 

nAR?£R  St  BBpTffER^  Sit  CUrr-STReBT' 


1645. 

[Fac-simile  of  title  page] 


72  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

English  for  the  first  time,  was  said  to  have  been 
discovered  in  Jerusalem  at  its  capture  under 
Titus,  and  printed  in  Venice  in   1613. 

The  third  and  last  of  Noah's  plans  for  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  sent 
forth  in  his  famous  ''Discourse  on  the  Restora- 
tion of  the  Jews",  delivered  on  October  28th  and 
December  2nd,  1844,  before  large  audiences  of 
Jews  and  Christians,  and  attracting  much  atten- 
tion at  the  time,  his  address  being  reported  at 
length  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day.  This  at- 
tempt was  a  passionate  appeal  by  one  to  whose 
heart  there  was  nothing  dearer  than  the  destiny 
of  his  people  and  whose  faith  in  his  Christian 
countrymen  was  such  that  he  believed  that 
through  them  our  hopes  were  to  be  realized.  He 
saw  a  beautiful  vision  and  he  painted  it  in  glow- 
ing oratory  to  the  America  that  he  so  loved 
and  trusted.  He  told  them  of  the  richness  of  the 
Palestinian  soil,  the  wonders  of  the  climate,  how 
"coffee  trees  grew  almost  spontaneously  and 
every  fruit  flourished."  He  enumerated  what 
advantages  would  accrue  to  the  rest  of  the  world 
after  Jewish  occupation,  telling  them  that  "this 
may  be  the  glorious  result  of  any  liberal  move- 
ment you  may  be  disposed  to  make  in  promoting 
the   final   destiny  of  the   Chosen   People." 

The  United  States  could,  according  to  Noah, 
by  a  single  effort,  acquire  for  the  Jewish  nation 
liberty  and  independence.  "The  United  States, 
the  only  country  which  has  given  civil  and 
religious   rights  to  the  Jews   equal   with   all  other 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  7Z 

sects;  the  only  country  which  has  not  persecuted 
them,  has  been  selected  and  pointedly  distin- 
guished in  the  prophecy  as  the  nation,  which,  at 
a  proper  time,  shall  present  to  the  Lord  His 
chosen  and  down-trodden  people,  and  pave  the 
way  for  the  restoration  to  Zion.  But  will  they  go, 
I  am  asked,  when  the  day  of  redemption  arrives? 
All  will  go  who  feel  the  oppressor's  yoke.  We  may 
repose  where  we  are  free  and  happy,  but  those 
will  go  who,  bowed  to  the  earth  by  oppression, 
would  gladly  exchange  a  condition  of  vassalage 
for  the  hope  of  freedom  :  that  hope  the  Jews  can 
never  surrender;  they  can  not  stand  up  against 
the  prediction  of  our  prophets,  against  the  prom- 
ises of  God ;  they  cease  to  be  a  nation,  a  people,  a 
sect,  when  they  do  so.  Let  the  people  go — point 
out  the  path  for  them  in  safety,  and  they  will  go, 
not  all,  but  sufficient  to  constitute  he  elements  of 
a  powerful  government,  and  those  who  are  happy 
here  may  cast  their  eyes  toward  the  sun  as  it  rises, 
and  know  that  it  rises  on  a  free  and  happy  people 
beyond  the  mountains  of  Judaea,  and  feel  doubly 
happy  in  the  conviction  that  God  has  redeemed 
all  his  promises  to  Jacob....  I  should  think 
that  the  very  idea,  the  hope,  the  prospect,  and 
above  all,  the  certainty  of  restoring  Israel  to  his 
own  and  promised  land,  would  arouse  the  whole 
civilized  world  to  a  cordial  and  happy  co-oper- 
ation. ..." 

"Let  me  therefore  impress  upon  your  minds  the 
important  fact,  that  the  liberty  and  independence 
of   the   Jewish   nation   may   grow   out   of   a   single 


74  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

effort  which  this  country  may  make  in  their 
behalf.  That  effort  is  to  procure  for  them  a 
permission  to  purchase  and  hold  land  in  security 
and  peace;  their  titles  and  possessions  confirmed; 
their  fields  and  flocks  undisturbed.  They  want 
only  protection,  and  the  work  is  accomplished. 
The  Turkish  government  cannot  be  insensible  to 
the  fact  that  clouds  are  gathering  around  them, 
and  destiny,  in  which  they  wholly  confide,  teaches 
them  to  await  the  day  of  trouble  and  dismember- 
ment. It  is  to  their  interest  to  draw  around 
them  the  friendly  aid  and  co-operation  of  the 
Jewish  people  throughout  the  world,  by  con- 
ferring these  reasonable  and  just  privileges  upon 
them,  and  when  Christianity  exerts  its  powerful 
agency,  and  stretches  forth  its  friendly  hand,  the 
right  solicited  will  be  cheerfully  conferred.  When 
the  Jewish  people  can  return  to  Palestine,  and 
feel  that  in  their  persons  and  property  they  are 
as  safe  from  danger  as  they  are  under  Christian 
governments,  they  will  make  their  purchases  of 
select  positions,  and  occupy  them  peaceably  and 
prosperously ;  confidence  will  with  them  take  the 
place  of  distrust  and,  by  degrees,  the  population 
in  every  part  of  Syria  being  greatly  increased, 
will  become  consolidated,  and  ready  to  unfold  the 
standard  when  political  events  shall  demonstrate 
to  them  that  the  time  has  arrived." 

It  is  only  natural  that  a  man  so  versatile  and 
picturesque  as  Major  Noah  should  excite  the 
interest  of  men  of  letters.  He  has  been  celebrated 
in   fiction    by    Israel    Zangwill    and    Alfred    Henry 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  75 

Lewis.  In  "Peggy  O'Neal",  by  Lewis,  a  narrative 
centering  around  President  Andrew  Jackson  and 
the  social  life  in  Washington  during  his  administra- 
tion, Noah  is  pictured  as  a  strong  partisan  of  the 
General's,  ever  ready  with  his  advice  and  his 
sword-arm  to  aid  his  side.  Mordecai  Noah  runs 
in  and  out  of  the  interesting  novel  in  intermittent 
fashion  "like  a  needle  through  cloth",  as  the 
author  himself  aptly  terms  it. 

"His  sewing,  however,  is  of  the  friendliest,"  we 
read,  "for  he  was  loyal  to  the  General  as  any  soul 
who  breathed."  The  sketch  of  Noah  in  "Peggy 
O'Neal"  is  almost  historically  accurate  in  its 
fundamentals,  except  that,  for  the  sake  of  draw- 
ing a  consistent  and  attractive  character  who  is 
always  materially  friendly  to  the  hero  and  the 
heroine,  there  are  occasional  departures  from 
fact. 

Lewis,  who  wrote  in  a  captivating  style,  intro- 
duces Major  Noah  as  a  writer  of  plays  and  an 
editor.  "Moreover,"  he  continues,  "he  was  a 
gentleman  of  substance  and  celebration  in  New 
York  City,  where  his  paper  did  stout  service  for 
the  General.  Noah  had  also  been  America's 
envoy  to  the  Barbary  States  during  the  years  of 
Madison.  A  Hebrew  of  purest  strain,  Noah  was 
of  the  Tribe  of  Judah  and  the  House  of  David, 
and  the  wiseacres  of  his  race  told  his  lineage,  and 
that  he  was  descended  of  David  in  a  right  line 
and  would  be  a  present  King  of  the  Jews  were  it 
not  that  the  latter  owned  neither  country  nor 
throne.     Noah  was  of  culture  and  quiet  penetra- 


Id  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

tion ;  withal  cunning  and  fertile  to  a  degree.  Also, 
I  found  his  courage  to  be  the  steadiest;  he  would 
fight  with  slight  reason,  and  had  in  a  duel  some 
twenty  years  before,  with  the  first  fire,  killed  one 
Cantor,  a  flamboyant  person — the  world  might 
well  spare  him — on  the  Charleston  racetrack, 
respectably  at  ten  paces.  I  incline  to  grant  space 
favorable  to  Noah ;  for  he  played  his  part  with 
an  integrity  as  fine  as  his  intelligence,  while  his 
own  modesty,  coupled  with  that  vulgar  dislike  of 
Jews  by  one  who  otherwise  might  have  named 
him  in  the  annals  of  that  day,  has  operated  to 
obscure  his  name." 

Far  more  interesting  to  us,  in  our  discussion  of 
Noah  from  the  Jewish  viewpoint,  is  Zangwill's 
story,  "Noah's  Ark",  a  story  which  has  a  mystical 
fascination.  It  stands  on  ''the  firmer  Ararat  of 
history",  as  Mr.  Zangwill  notes  in  his  preface  to 
"They  That  Walk  in  Darkness",  comparing  it  to 
the  other  tragedies  included  in  the  same  volume, 
"my  invention  being  confined  to  the  figure  of 
Peloni  (the  Hebrew  for  'nobody')."  It  is  largely 
through  the  popularity  of  Mr.  Zangwill's  works 
that  the  character  of  Noah  is  generally  known, 
and  it  does  not  require  great  foresight  to  foretell 
that,  without  a  less  fictional  interpretation  of 
Noah's  attempt  to  found  a  Jewish  state  in 
America,  the  whole  account  will  become  a  sadly 
beautiful  legend. 

Peloni,  on  a  summer's  day  in  1825,  remarks  an 
unwonted  stir  in  the  Judengasse  of  Frankfurt, 
Germany.      On    approaching    the    Synagogue    he 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  11 

finds  a  loitering  crowd  reading  a  long  Proclama- 
tion in  a  couple  of  folio  sheets  nailed  on  the  door. 
It  was  Noah's  pronunciamento  to  the  Jews  of 
the  world  announcing  the  restoration  of  Israel. 
The  crowd  received  the  announcement,  but  coldly, 
and  derisive  comments  followed  one  after  the 
other.  Peloni  did  not  heed  them.  **For  God's 
sake,  brethren!"  cried  he.  "this  is  no  joke.  Have 
you  forgotten  already  that  here  we  are  only 
animals?" 

Nobody  other  than  Peloni  was  impressed  with 
the  announcement  by  the  self-appointed  Judge  of 
Israel.  "Noah's  a  madman,  and  you're  an  infant," 
Peioni's   friends   told   him. 

So  he  sailed  for  New  York  alone. 

Using  Peioni's  character  as  a  vehicle  for  carry- 
ing him  through  the  history  of  Noah's  project, 
Mr.  Zangwill  touches  the  high  points  of  the 
event  and  renders  an  almost  accurate  account  of 
the  whole  operation. 

In  the  story  it  is  related  that  Peloni  met  Noah, 
and  the  Judge  of  Israel  commissioned  him  to 
place  the  flag  of  Israel  on  Grand  Island.  Peloni 
proceeded  to  the  place  and  planted  the  flagstaff 
in  the  ground,  and  the  flag  bearing  the  Lion  of 
Judah  and  the  seven  stars  flapped  in  the  face  of 
an  inattentive  universe.  Meantime,  "appropriate" 
ceremonies  in  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Buft'alo  were 
conducted  by  ^lajor  Noah.  A  salvo  of  twenty- 
four  guns  rounded  off  the  great  day  of  Israel's 
restoration.  . . . 

"Peloni    remained    on    the    Island.      He    heard 


78  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

faintly  the  cannonading  that  preceded  and  con- 
cluded the  laying  of  the  foundation  stone  in  the 
chancel  of  the  church,  and  he  expected  Noah  the 
next  day  at  the  latest.  But  the  next  day  passed, 
and  no  Noah.  Only  a  letter  and  some  news- 
papers sent  by  messenger  by  the  Judge  of  Israel, 
reporting  "glorious  success,  thank  Heaven". 

*       *       * 

"So   winter   came,    and   there   was   still   nothing 

to   record It  was   very   lonely....    Peloni 

had  heard  from  no  one,  neither  from  Noah,  nor 
Smith,  nor  any  Jewish  or  even  Indian  pilgrim  to 
the  New  Jerusalem.  The  old  despair  began  to 
twine  round  him  like  some  serpent  of  ice.  As  he 
listened  in  such  moods  to  the  distant  thunder  of 
Niagara — which  waxed  louder  as  the  air  grew 
heavier,  till  it  quite  dominated  the  ever  present 
rumble  of  the  rapids — the  sound  took  on  endless 
meanings  to  his  feverish  brain.  Now  it  was  no 
longer  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  Being,  it  was  the 
endless  plaint  of  Israel  beseeching  the  deaf 
heaven,  the  roar  of  prayer  from  some  measureless 
synagogue ;  now  it  was  the  raucous  voice  of  per- 
secution, the  dull  bestial  roar  of  malicious  multi- 
tudes ;  and  again  it  was  the  voice  of  the  whole 
earth,  groaning  and  travailing.  And  the  horror  of 
it  was  that  it  would  not  stop.  It  dropped  on  his 
brain,  this  falling  water,  as  on  the  prisoner's  in 
the  mediaeval  torture  chamber.  Could  no  one 
stop  this  turning  wheel  of  the  world,  jar  it  grind- 
ing to  a  standstill? 

"Spring  wore   slowly   round   again.     The   icicles 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  79 

melted,  the  friezes  dripped  away,  the  fantastic 
mufflers  slipped  from  the  trees,  and  the  young 
buds  peeped  out  and  the  young  birds  sang.  The 
river  flowed  uncurdled,  the  cataracts  fell  un- 
clogged. 

"In  Peloni's  breast  alone  the  ice  did  not  melt: 
No  new  sap  stirred  in  his  veins.  The  very  rain- 
bows on  the  leaping  mist  were  now  only  of  the 
Biblical  promise  that  the  world  would  go  on 
forever ;  forever  the  wheel  would  turn,  and  Israel 
wander  homeless.  And  at  last,  one  sunny  day,  a 
boat  arrived  with  a  message  from  the  Master. 
Alas !  even  Noah  had  abandoned  Ararat.  "I  am 
beginning  to  see",  he  wrote,  "that  our  only  hope 
is  Palestine.  Zion  alone  has  magnetism  for  the 
Jew." 

"Peloni  wandered  automatically  to  the  apex  of 
the  island  at  Burnt  Ship  Bay,  and  stood  gazing 
meaninglessly  at  the  fragments  of  the  sunken 
ships.  Before  him  raced  the  rapids,  frenziedly 
anxious  for  the  great  leap.  Even  so,  he  thought, 
had  Noah  and  he  dreamed  Israel  would  haste  to 
Ararat.  And  Niagara  maintained  its  mocking 
roar — its   roar   of  gigantic   laughter. 

"Re-erect   Solomon's  Temple  in   Palestine !" 

"As  he  lifted  his  swimming  eyes  he  saw  to  his 
astonishment  that  he  was  no  longer  alone.  A 
tall  majestic  figure  stood  gazing  at  him :  a  grave, 
sorrowful  Indian,  feathered  and  tufted,  habited 
only  in  buckskin  leggings,  and  girdled  by  a  belt 
of  wampum.  A  musket  in  his  hand  showed  he 
had  been  hunting,  and  a  canoe   Peloni   now   saw 


80  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

tethered  to  the  bank  indicated  he  was  going  back 
to  his  lodge.  Peloni  knew  from  his  talks  with 
the  Tonawanda  Indians  opposite  Ararat  that  this 
was  Red  Jacket,  the  famous  chief  of  the  Iroquois, 
the  ancient  lords  of  the  soil.  Peloni  tendered  the 
salute  due  to  the  royalty  stamped  on  the  man. 
Red  Jacket  ceremoniously  acknowledged  the 
obeisance.  They  gazed  silently  at  each  other,  the 
puny,  stooping  scholar  from  the  German  Ghetto, 
and   the   stalwart,   kingly   savage. 

*'Tell  me,"  said  Red  Jacket  imperiously,  "what 
nation  are  you  that  build  a  monument  but  never 
a  city  like  the  other  white  men,  nor  even  a  camp 
like   my   people?" 

"Great  Chief,"  replied  Peloni  in  his  best  Iro- 
quois,  "We   are   a   people   that   build    for   others." 

"I  would  ye  would  build  for  my  people  then. 
For  these  white  men  sweep  us  back,  farther, 
farther,  till  there  is  nothing  but" — and  he  made 
an  eloquent  gesture,  implying  the  sweep  into  the 
river,  into  the  jaws  of  the  hurrying  rapids.  "Yet, 
methinks,  I  heard  of  a  plan  of  your  people — of 
a  great  pow-wow  of  your  chiefs  in  a  church,  of 
a  great  city  to  be  born  here." 

"It  is  dead  before  birth,"  said  Peloni. 

"Strange,"  mused  Red  Jacket.  "Scarce  twenty 
summers  ago  Joseph  Elliott  came  here  to  plan 
out  his  city  on  a  soil  that  was  not  his,  and  lo! 
this  Buffalo  rises  already  mighty  and  menacing. 
To-morrow  it  will  be  at  my  wigwam  door — and 
we" — another  gesture,  hopeless,  yet  full  of  regal 
dignity,   rounded  off  the   sentence. 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  81 

"And  in  that  instant  it  was  borne  in  upon 
Peloni  that  they  were  indeed  brothers :  The  Jew 
who  stood  for  the  world  that  could  not  be  born 
again,  and  the  Red  Indian  who  stood  for  the 
world  that  must  pass  away.  Yes,  they  both  were 
doomed.  Israel  had  been  too  bent  and  broken 
by  the  long  dispersion  and  the  long  persecution : 
the  spring  was  snapped ;  he  could  not  recover. 
He  had  been  too  long  the  pliant  protege  of  kings 
and  popes :  he  had  prayed  too  many  centuries  in 
too  many  countries  for  the  simultaneous  welfare 
of  too  many  governments,  to  be  capable  of  realiz- 
ing that  government  of  his  own  for  which  he 
likewise  prayed.  This  pious  patience — this  re- 
jection of  the  burden  onto  the  shoulders  of  Messiah 
and  Miracle — was  it  more  than  the  veil  of  un- 
conscious impotence?  Ah,  better  sweep  oneself 
away  than  endure  long  ignominy.  And  Niagara 
laughed  on. 

"May  I  have  the  privilege  of  crossing  in  your 
canoe?"   he   asked. 

"You  are  not  afraid?"  said  Red  Jacket.  "The 
rapids   are   dangerous   here." 

"Afraid !"  Peloni's  inward  laughter  seemed  to 
match  Niagara's. 

"When  he  got  to  the  mainland,  he  made 
straight  for  the  Falls.  He  was  on  the  American 
side,  and  he  paused  on  the  sward,  on  the  very 
brink  of  the  tameless  cataract,  that  had  for  im- 
memorial ages  been  driving  itself  backward  by 
eating   away   its    own   rock.      His   fascinated    eyes 


82  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

watched  the  curious  smooth,  purring  slide  of  the 
vast  mass  of  green  water  of  the  sharp  edges,  un- 
ending, unresting,  the  eternal  revolution  of  a 
maddening,  imperturbable  wheel.  O  that  blind 
wheel,  turning,  while  the  generations  waxed  and 
waned,  one  succeeding  the  other  without  haste 
or  rest  or  possibility  of  pause:  creatures  of 
meaningless  majesty,  shadows  of  shadows,  dream- 
ing of  love  and  justice  and  fading  into  the  kindred 
mist,  while  this  solid  green  cataract  roared  and 
raced  through  aeons  innumerable,  stable  as  the 
stars,  thundering  in  majestic  meaninglessness. 
And  suddenly  he  threw  himself  into  its  remorse- 
less whirl  and  was  sucked  down  into  the  mon- 
strous chaos  of  seething  waters  and  whirled  and 
hurled  amid  the  rocks,  battered  and  shapeless, 
but  still  holding  Noah's  letter  in  his  convulsively 
clinched  hand,  while  the  rainbowed  spray  leapt 
impassively   heavenward. 

"The  corner-stone  of  Ararat  lies  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  and  no  one  who 
copies  the  inscription  dreams  that  it  is  the  grave- 
stone of  Peloni. 

"And  while  the  very  monument  has  mouldered 
away  in  Ararat,  Buflfalo  sits  throned  amid  her 
waters,  the  Queen  City  of  the  Empire  State,  with 
the  world's  commerce  at  her  feet.  And  from 
their  palaces  of  Medina  sandstone,  the  Christian 
railroad  kings  go  out  to  sail  in  their  luxurious , 
yachts — vessels  not  of  bulrushes  but  driven  by 
steam,  as  predicted  by  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah, 
Governor  and  Judge  of  Israel." 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  S3 

In  this  connection,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Mr.  Zangwill,  speaking  before  the  London  Uni- 
versity Society,  on  the  occasion  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  Pinsker's  death,*  in  a  very 
interesting  manner  Hnked  the  names  of  Noah, 
Pinsker  and  Herzl.  "Pinsker's  Auto-Emancipa- 
tion", he  said,  "pubHshed  in  1881,  was  a  brilliant 
anticipation  of  much  later  history  and  literature, 
and  its  brilliance  was  not  that  of  flowers  or  jewels 
but  of  fire". 

"Its  problem  was  seen  with  a  burning  sense  of 
the  great  Jewish  tragedy  and  resolved  in  words 
of  flame,"  continued  Mr.  Zangwill.  ''It  was  a 
great  book.  Yet  Herzl,  when  he  wrote  his 
"Judenstaat"  in  1895,  had  probably  never  heard 
of  it,  and  this,  though  Pinsker's  book  had  pre- 
ceded his  in  calling  forth  a  Congress  from  almost 
every  country  of  Europe.  I  said  that  Pinsker  was 
the  father  of  all  Auto-Emancipation.  But  it  is  a 
wise  child  that  knows  his  own  father,  and  I,  too, 
had  never  seen  this  book  till  years  after  the  Ito 
was  established.  Before  Pinsker,  there  had  been 
the  American  Sephardi,  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah, 
who  in  1825  not  only  planned  a  great  Jewish 
colony  on  an  island  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
but  actually  bought  land  for  it,  and  issued  an  in- 
vitation to  the  Ghettos  of  Europe  to  flock  to  his 
Ararat,  and  even  held  the  Dedication  Service — as 
readers  of  my  story,  "Noah's  Ark",  may  re- 
member.     How    comes    it    that    a    Russian    like 


♦December   16,    1916. 


84  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

Pinsker,  an  Austrian  like  Herzl,  an  American  like 
Noah,  and  an  Englishman  like  myself,  are  all 
found  putting  forth  the  same  solution  of  the 
Jewish  problem?  Is  it  plagiarism?  Not  at  all. 
Herzl,  Pinsker,  Noah,  were  in  sublime  uncon- 
sciousness of  one  another.  It  is  because  there  is 
what  the  advertisements  call  "a.  felt  want",  and 
this  want  prompts  everywhere  the  same  sug- 
gestion for  meeting  it.  The  bulk  of  our  troubles 
springing  from  our  lack  of  a  common  land  or 
even  of  a  majority  anywhere,  it  is  a  natural  sug- 
gestion that  we  should  re-establish  ourselves 
upon  a  normal  national  basis. 

"The  interesting  fact  remains,"  said  Mr.  Zang- 
will,  "that  Herzl's  Congress,  called  for  Territorial- 
ism,  ended  in  the  adoption  of  Palestine  as  its  goal, 
that  Pinsker's  Congress,  called  for  Territorialism, 
ended  in  a  society  to  aid  Palestine  immigrants, 
and  that  even  Noah's  institution,  "Ararat",  was 
replaced  by  a  rallying  call  to  Zion." 

Through  the  changing  years,  Noah  has  been 
remembered.  Here  and  there  a  chance  sentence 
in  an  obscure  work,  now  and  then  a  little  story 
or  anectode,  indicate  that  he  will  not  be  entirely 
forgotten.  Interpret  his  endeavors  as  a  Jewish 
nationalist  however  one  will,  there  remains  chiefly 
the  fact  that  all  of  his  efforts  must  inevitably 
have  failed  because  of  the  remoteness  of  America 
from  the  great  Jewish  centers  of  population  and 
learning  during  the  early  nineteenth  century  and 
because  of  the  unpropitious  times.  No  careful 
analysis  of  why  Noah  failed  is  necessary  in  these 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  85 

days,  for  the  reasons  are,  in  the  light  of  history, 
simple  enough  and  obvious  to  all. 

History  tells  us  that  in  every  clime,  at  every 
period,  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  have  boldly 
entered  the  arena  willing  to  battle  for  Jewish 
liberty  and  national  security.  They  have  been, 
for  the  most  part,  men  of  genius  and  understand- 
ing and  something  more  than  mere  dreamers. 
Out  of  the  mist  of  the  past  a  finger  ever  points 
toward  the  hills  of  Judaea,  and  we  who  live  con- 
scious of  our  heritage  shall  ever  strive  to  regain 
that  for  which  our  forefathers  so  valiantly  sacri- 
ficed their  blood,  and  which,  having  achieved, 
they  lost  as  brave  men  and  true. 

There  is  a  land  forever  Israel's.  The  grey, 
cold  hand  of  a  merciless  Fate  may  temporarily 
scatter  us,  cast  us  among  the  nations,  strangers 
in  strange  lands,  wayfarers  in  foreign  countries, 
but  we  shall  ever  turn  our  eyes  eastward,  the 
hope  and  homesickness  of  centuries  in  our  hearts, 
a  prayer  on  our  lips.  Enticing  gifts  of  social  and 
political  equality  may  lure  many  from  our  ranks, 
the  oppressor's  knout  may  weaken  our  powers, 
but  rather  than  forget  Jerusalem  we  should  relin- 
quish our  right  to  live,  and  we  shall  never  fail  to 
believe  in  the  restoration  of  Israel  to  his  own — 
else,  we  fail  to  grasp  the  significance  of  our 
history.  Neither  kindness  nor  cruelty  will  anni- 
hilate us,  is  the  warning  of  Time.  We  will  fear 
God — and  take  our  own  part. 


APPENDIX  A 

ON    FASHION,    by    Mordecai    Manuel    Noah,    in 

"Gleanings    From    A    Gathered    Harvest." 

New   York,   1845. 

Dame  Fortune  has  been  generally  represented 
as  blind  and  fickle,  and  I  have  often  thought  that 
Fashion  should  also  be  personified.  If  we  call 
her  a  dame,  she  must  be  more  fickle  and  eccentric 
than   ever   Fortune   was. 

The  variety  of  changes  to  which  the  civilized 
world  has  been  subjected  by  Fashion,  and  the  in- 
ordinate extravagance  which  has  resulted  from 
these  useless  changes,  have  produced  incalculable 
evils  in  laying  a  foundation  for  waste  and  pro- 
fusion, the  ill  effects  of  which  are  constantly 
felt.  In  former  times,  a  house  was  furnished 
with  the  utmost  prudence — no  useless  article  was 
ever  purchased — and  the  high  backed  mahogany 
chairs,  the  heavy  carved  mirrors,  the  bed  and 
double  curtains,  and  all  the  ornaments  of  the 
mansion,  were  selected  for  their  lasting  and  use- 
ful qualities.  If,  after  an  absence  of  twenty 
years,  a  friend  returned  to  his  country,  his  eyes 
were  greeted  with  the  same  old-fashioned,  yet 
ponderous  furniture,  which  time  had  familiarized, 
and  even  rendered  dear  to  him ;  he  saw  and 
recognized  the  old  china  jars,  the  sprigged  tea- 
cups and  flowered  plates,  the  old  chased  sugar 
dish   and  teapot,  the   spinnet,  the   highly   polished 

[86] 


MORDECAI  m;  NOAH  9,7 

wardrobe,  in  which  were  deposited  the  brocade 
dresses  of  his  grandma  and  the  embroidered 
waistcoats  of  his  grandfather;  all  these  objects 
revived  the  recollection  of  earlier  days,  of  happier 
moments,  and  served  to  increase  that  attachment 
to  home,  in  which  are  centered  so  many  enjoy- 
ments. But  now  the  scene  is  altered,  and  the 
furniture  of  a  house  is  changed  as  frequently  as 
a  coat  and  waistcoat.  Instead  of  the  useful  and 
durable,  we  have  the  light  and  flimsy  ornaments 
of  a  drawing  room :  gilt  vases,  cut  glass  chande- 
liers, grand  pianos,  silk  curtains,  and  all  the  para- 
phernalia of  a  fairy's  palace.  Immense  fortunes 
are  thus  thrown  away  on  these  fickle,  thought- 
less changes,  and,  as  Peter  Trot  says,  "the  up- 
holsterer has  scarcely  done  knocking  up,  when  in 
comes   the   auctioneer   and   knocks   down." 

Thus  fashion  may  be  called  fickle,  expensive, 
and  some  times  imperative ;  it  ought  to  be  re- 
sisted with  firmness  and  decision.  I  would,  by  no 
means,  be  so  much  "out  of  fashion"  as  to  be 
peculiarly  strange  and  absurd ;  but  to  follow  all 
its  eccentricities,  to  be  a  slave  to  its  caprices ;  and 
ruined  by  its  changes,  is  to  be,  at  once,  deaf  to 
prudence,   discretion,   and   good   sense. 

It  is  not  over  the  domestic  organization  alone, 
that  fashion  exercises  a  powerful  influence ;  it 
extends  to  the  person,  and  is  equally  as  fickle  and 
as  costly  in  matters  of  dress  and  personal  orna- 
ment. Look  into  the  bureaus  and  trunks  of 
modern  men  of  fashion,  and  see  the  number  of 
coats,     waistcoats,     pantaloons,     hats,     and     boots. 


88  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

Why  this  unnecessary  accumulation  of  clothing? 
Why  purchase  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  make  a  respectable  appearance?  Think  you  it 
adds  to  the  importance  of  a  man  to  wear  a  blue 
coat  at  breakfast,  a  pea  green  at  dinner,  and  a 
black  in  the  evening?  Then  the  ladies,  have  they 
not  many  superfluities,  and  might  they  not  forego 
a  number  with  convenience  and  advantage?  Are 
there  not  many  expenses  which  they  could  curtail 
— many  trifles  which  they  could  economize?  It 
frequently  happens,  that  both  male  and  female, 
by  following  fashion  with  an  extreme  devotion, 
and  pursuing  her  through  every  mazy  course, 
only  fall  into  ludicrous  errors,  and  frequently  cut 
a  very  sorry  figure. 

A  few  evenings  since,  I  casually  paid  a  visit  to 
an  old  friend,  and  was  surprised  to  find  the  rooms 
illuminated  and  filled  with  gayly  dressed  ladies 
and  gentlemen.  I  took  my  seat  on  a  sofa,  be- 
tween two  pretty  smiling  lasses,  who  said  many 
handsome  things  to  me,  though  I  am  not  now  a 
young  man.  The  conversation  at  last  turned  on 
fashions,  taste,  extravagance,  and  so  on,  to 
domestic  economy.  A  young  gentleman,  whose 
impudence  equalled  his  folly,  came  in  front  of 
the  sofa,  and  stood  before  the  ladies,  in  an  atti- 
tude inexpressibly  inelegant,  though  it  may  have 
been  fashionable;  he  had  on  a  pair  of  petticoat 
pantaloons,  varnished  boots,  flashy  silk  vest,  his 
waist  compressed  by  corsets  to  nearly  the  shape 
of  a  wasp's;  a  cravat  which  nearly  choked  him; 
rings  and  seals  in  the  usual  quantity;  the  animal 


MORDECAI  M.  NOAH  89 

straddled  before  the  ladies,  with  his  thumbs 
elegantly  hitched  in  the  flaps  of  his  pantaloons, 
or  dangling  his  yellow  kids,  and  with  a  squeaking 
effeminate  voice,  pronounced  sentence  of  dis- 
pleasure on  all  these  meddling  busy  bodies,  and 
would-be  scribblers,  who,  having  no  money  of 
their  own,  insolently  obtruded  their  advice  on 
men  of  fashion,  and  presumed  to  dictate  about 
what  they  had  neither  the  ability  to  understand 
nor  the  sense  to  appreciate !  He  liked  sentiment, 
he  said,  evening  dress — 'pon  honor,  he  had  a 
natural  horror  of  all  sentimental  boobies,  who 
could  not  understand  the  dignity  of  taste  and 
fashion — so  he  had!  The  ladies  smiled,  but  not 
in  approbation,  and  they  seemed  rather  to  enjoy 
the  appearance  which  this  caricature  of  humanity 
made,  now  holding  a  glass  of  ice  cream  in  one 
hand,  and  with  the  other  occasionally  arranging 
his  bushy  hair,  and  rendering  himself  more  fright- 
ful and  disgusting. 

At  this  period,  the  sky,  which  had  been  over- 
cast, became  quite  black,  and  peals  of  thunder 
broke  upon  the  ear,  accompanied  with  vivid 
flashes  of  lightning.  The  ladies  arose  somewhat 
discomposed;  but  one,  young  and  beautiful,  with 
whom  I  was  conversing,  turned  from  me  very 
quickly,  put  her  hand  to  her  bosom,  and  drew  out 
a  piece  of  long  black  iron  or  steel,  which  in  her 
confusion,  she  let  fall — I  stooped,  picked  it  up, 
and  handed  it  to  her,  observing  that  confusion. 
"It  is  my  corset  bone,"  whispered  she ;  *T  am  so 
afraid    of    the    lightning    that    I    have    to    take    it 


90  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

out — do  keep  it  for  me,  dear  Sir,   and  don't  look 
angry;  it  is  the  fashion,  and  it  is  French  also!" 

Alas!  what  is  fashion  to  bring  us  to?  A  young 
and  lively  female  casing  herself  in  steel,  flying 
from  the  elements,  binding  and  compressing  her 
delicate  frame  and  blasting  her  fair  skin  by  the 
rude  embrace  of  a  vile  black  substance,  checking 
respiration,  obstructing  the  full  use  of  her  lungs 
and  muscles,  laying  the  foundation  for  cramps, 
pains,  and  consumption,  and  courting  death,  dis- 
guised in  the  alluring  and  illusive  shape  of 
Fashion!     "Fie  on't!  O,  fie!" 


APPENDIX  B 

Some  idea  of  the  prominence  and  position  of 
Major  Noah  is  conveyed  by  the  following  editorial 
which  appeared  in  "The  Asmonean"  (N.  Y.),  on 
March  28th,  1851.  The  editor  of  this  periodical, 
"the  organ  of  American  Israelites",  was  Robert 
Lyon.  The  editorial  page  of  the  issue  which  in- 
cluded this  tribute  to  Noah  was  bordered  in 
heavy  black,  and  fully  two  columns  were  devoted 
to  an  account  of  the  funeral,  which  was  attended 
by  a  "dense  throng  of  persons"  including  "the 
representatives  of  the  Bench,  the  Bar,  and  the 
Mart,  without  distinction  of  creed;  doctors, 
authors,  musicians,  comedians,  editors,  mechanics, 
professionals  and  non-professionals,  all  classes 
vieing  with  each  other  in  eager  desire  to  offer  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  mortal  remains  of  Major 
Noah...." 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  91 

MORDECAI    M.   NOAH 
(Editorial  from  "The  Asmonean",  March  28,  1851) 

Among  the  many  parables  of  our  sages  of  which 
we  have  an  indistinct  recollection,  and  which 
current  circumstances  often  vividly  revive  in  our 
mind,  there  is  one,  that,  standing  beside  the  bier 
of  our  lamented  friend,  came  back  with  full  force, 
and  we  saw  how  inconclusive  was  the  application 
of  the  moral  put  forth  by  the  closest  reasoner, 
then  and  there  tried  by  the  severe  test  of  reality. 
"When  a  man  comes  into  the  world,"  says  the 
philosopher,  "his  hands  are  tightly  closed,  as  if 
he  meant  to  say  thereby :  'The  world  is  mine ;  I 
will  conquer  it.'  When  he  leaves  the  world  his 
hands  are  relaxed  and  open,  as  if  he  meant  to 
say :  *Of  things  belonging  to  this  world  I  have 
conquered  for  myself — nothing.' "  Lost  in  con- 
templation, we  gazed  on  the  rapt  multitude  swal- 
lowing with  eager  ears  the  flowing  words  of  the 
orator,  and  we  asked  of  ourselves,  if  all  we  saw 
that  day — if  the  funeral  cortege  of  a  thousand 
men,  if  the  weeping  orphans,  the  mourning  re- 
latives, the  troops  of  sorrowing  friends,  the  bands 
of  distressed  associates,  the  aspect  of  regret 
visible  on  every  countenance,  the  measured  tread 
and  the  solemn  chant,  the  voice  of  eulogy  and 
the  wail  of  lament — meant  nothing — were  nothing. 
If  so,  life  was  nothing;  and  controverting  the 
treasured  words  of  the  preacher,  the  poor  mor- 
tality which  lay  in  our  presence  cold  and  inani- 
mate, beneath  the  velvet  pall,  was  better  than  the 


92  MORDECAI  M.  NOAH 

active,  sentient  and  robust  that  had  assembled 
that  day  to  perform  the  sad  office  of  committing 
it  to  its  fellow  dust.  But  we  saw  that  life  had 
a  purpose:  that  the  days  of  the  pilgrimage  of  the 
departed  had  not  been  like  the  patriarch  of  old — 
few  and  evil ;  but  his  acts  of  duty,  deeds  of  kind- 
ness and  works  of  pious  charity,  had  a  purpose 
and  a  utility,  which  would  endure  long  after  the 
frail  form  which  we  had  been  accustomed  to 
look  up  to  had  undergone  that  mystical  transmu- 
tation, which  is  one  of  the  great  truths  of  crea- 
tion. Could  we  think  otherwise;  even  the  funeral 
of  Mordecai  M.  Noah  was,  like  his  life,  a  lesson 
and  a  stimulant  to  all  that  came  within  the  sphere 
of  its  activity.  To  his  sons  the  name  they  inherit 
ought  to  be  infinitely  more  valuable  than  a  patri- 
mony of  dirty  acres ;  for  their  father  has  be- 
queathed to  them  a  patent  of  nobility,  rich  and 
rare ;  priceless  and  unobtainable,  except  by  a  long 
exercise  of  unvaried  goodness ;  procured  only  by 
the  rare  union  of  mind  and  heart  in  one  unceas- 
ing course  of  benevolence,  sealed  and  guaranteed 
by  that  peerless  ratification,  the  unbought  loyalty 
of  his  fellow-citizens.  Will  they  use  it  well?  Will 
they  adequately  perform  the  duties  it  imposes  on 
them?  Society  has  an  interest  in  the  question, 
for  M.  M.  Noah  lived  for  the  community;  labored 
long  and  zealously  to  ameliorate  the  sufferings 
and  better  the  condition  of  his  species ;  his 
memory,  therefore,  is  the  property  of  the  people, 
and  as  in  life  they  looked  upon  him  with  love, 
they    now    look    upon    it    with    reverence.      The 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  93 

brightest  monument  his  descendants  can  raise 
to  perpetuate  that  reverence,  is  ever  to  keep  be- 
fore them  the  bright  example  of  the  man  whose 
memory  thousands   assembled  to  honor. 

Our  readers  will  find  an  epitome  of  the  public 
acts  of  Major  Noah's  life  in  the  funeral  oration, 
delivered  by  an  eloquent  divine.  Of  his  career  / 
as  a  politician,  a  representative  of  the  nation  at 
foreign  courts,  an  advocate  and  a  judge,  our 
contemporaries,  the  daily  press,  have  spoken  in 
terms  of  unlimited  approbation,  and  we  place 
their  observations  at  the  conclusion  of  these  re- 
marks, for  they  are  indeed  valuable,  being  the 
unbought,  unsought  tributes  of  associates  and 
contemporaries  desirous  of  recording  their  respect 
and  regret  for  the  loss  of  a  useful  member  of 
society.  Their  perfect  unanimity  is  estimable  to 
us  as  Hebrews,  for  we  recollect,  and  we  ask  all 
those  who  peruse  this  paper  to  bear  in  mind,  that 
Mordecai  M.  Noah,  although  not  a  rigid  cere-  ) 
monialist,  was  in  heart  and  in  spirit  an  Israelite. 
National,  judicial  or  municipal  honors  never  in- 
duced him  to  forget  that  he  was  a  son  of  the 
Covenant,  and  unlike  the  titled  great  of  other 
lands,  or  many  of  the  wealthy  of  this,  he  was 
proud  on  all  occasions  to  say  that  he  was  of  the 
lineage  that  had  Abraham  for  its  founder,  Moses 
for  its  teacher,  and  the  great  Unity  for  its  creed. 

By  birth  an  American,  by  faith  a  Jew,  Major 
Noah  felt  not  and  understood  nothing  of  the 
artificial  limits  and  distinctions  which  geography 
draws,   or  divers   modes   of  worship   create;   with 


94  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

the  hand  ever  open,  his  chanty  was  not  restricted 
to  mere  acts  which  find  their  reward  by  parade  in 
public  journals,  but  his  almony  had  vent  at  times 
and  places  when  or  where  none  living  saw  or 
knew,  except  the  pleased  recipient  and  the  gener- 
ous giver.  Overflowing  with  the  milk  of  human 
kindness,  he  was  ever  full  of  projects  for  the 
happiness  of  his  race — sanguine  and  enthusiastic, 
but  wanting  a  knowledge  of  the  intricate  ways  of 
the  world,  he  failed  to  accomplish  his  meritorious 
designs;  thus  he  became  as  it  were  a  dreamer, 
who  in  the  fulness  of  his  fancy  permitted  his 
mind  to  wander  and  steal  away,  luxuriating  over 
the  images  of  beauty  and  pleasure  which  he  saw 
in  the  ideals  his  generous  soul  produced,  but  the 
cold,  stern  world  called  for  something  more, 
hence  his  labors  were  often  derided  for  im- 
practicability. 

For  many  years  he  has  filled  with  honor  to 
himself  and  satisfaction  to  its  managers  the 
Presidential  chair  of  a  valuable  public  charity, 
(the  "Hebrew  Benevolent  Society,"  Meshebeth 
Nafesh)  and  his  loss  creates  a  vacuum  which 
there  will  be  much  difficulty  to  satisfactorily  fill 
up.  His  associates  at  that  board  manifested  their 
remembrance  of  his  valuable  guidance  by  specially 
requesting  Dr.  Raphall  to  express  at  the  brink  of 
the  grave  their  love  for  him  as  a  man  and  a  co- 
religionist, and  their  high  appreciation  of  his 
noble  conduct  as  a  citizen  and  an  officer  of  the 
State.  Indefatigable  in  his  avocation,  Major  Noah 
was  a  prompt  and  punctual   attendant  at  all   the 


MORDECAI  M.NOAH  95 

meetings  of  that  society,  and  he  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  pressing  its  claims  upon  public  notice. 
One  great  object,  for  which  he  had  for  many 
years  expressed  a  desire  to  found  and  originate, 
was  a  Hebrew  Hospital :  and  the  last  public  act 
of  his  life  was  taking  the  chair  at  a  meeting  of 
the  delegates  of  the  various  charities,  held  a  few 
weeks  since  for  that  purpose.  Little  did  we  then 
imagine  that  wt  should  thus  shortly,  within  a 
brief  month,  be  called  upon  to  pen  an  obituary 
notice  of  the  noble  hearted  man.  It  is  true, 
he  appeared  far  from  well  or  strong  on  that 
occasion,  but  in  reply  to  our  inquiries  as  to  how 
he  felt,  he  ascribed  his  apparent  indisposition  to 
Rheumatism,  which,  to  use  his  own  language,  "he 
hoped  the  genial  warmth  of  summer  would  dis- 
pel." Alas !  the  bright  sun  of  opening  spring 
only  gave  a  lustre  to  the  varnish  of  his  hearse, 
and  the  coming  summer  of  which  he  hopefully 
spoke,  will  give  a  green  hue  to  the  turf  which 
binds   his   grave. 

Of  his  private  life,  all  who  knew  him  testify 
to  its  excellence  and  amiability.  Our  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  deceased  dates  but  a  few 
years  back — few,  compared  to  the  long  series  of 
years  which  he  was  fated  to  accomplish,  but 
sufficiently  many  to  enable  us  by  association  to 
learn  the  fervent  zeal,  the  ardent  devotion,  the 
unbounded  benevolence  with  which  he  listened 
to  the  voice  of  the  distressed,  sought  to  mitigate 
the  hardships  of  the  down  fallen,  and  endeavored 
to  assuage  the  calamities  of  the  afflicted. 


96  MORDECAI  M.NOAH 

As  an  editor,  Major  Noah  was  endowed  with 
considerable  practical  talent  and  ever  ready  tact. 
A  good  judge  of  those  matters  has  adroitly  termed 
him  "the  most  graceful  paragraphist  in  the  United 
States" ;  he  was  truly  so,  for  possessing  the  rare 
faculty  of  skimming  the  waves  of  discussion,  and 
just  hitting  the  subject  between  wind  and  water, 
he  bore  the  reader  invariably  with  him.. 

Of  his  social  qualities,  the  young  and  the  old, 
the  strict  conformist  and  the  non  orthodox,  the 
Jew  and  the  Gentile,  spontaneously  bear  testimony 
to  the  charm  which  hovered  around  him.  With 
innumerable  virtues  our  revered  friend  may  be 
said  to  have  but  few  faults — yet,  like  all  frail 
humanity,  he  had  a  weakness,  probably  amounting 
to  a  fault;  even  while  penning  the  phrase,  our 
mind  suggests  a  palliative,  and  deems  the  infirmity 
we  censure  to  be  an  excess  of  amiability.  Un- 
learned in  that  most  skilful  section  of  the  art  of* 
diplomacy — duplicity.  Unwilling  to  pain  by  a 
negative,  yet  destitute  of  the  speciousness  neces- 
sary to  refuse  with  grace,  the  Major's  political 
usefulness  was  destroyed  by  his  ingenuousness 
rendering  him  a  victim  to  crafty  men ;  and  the 
success  of  his  public  career  was  marred  by  a  /j 
positive  incapacity  to  say  No ;  to  give  a  denial  to 
a  suppliant,  or  firmly  to  reject  an  inconsistent 
proposition.  However,  nature  made  him  so ;  had 
his  organization  been  otherwise,  he  would  have 
been  a  richer — probably  a  wiser,  but  assuredly 
not  a  happier  man. 


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